


That Which We Call A Rose

by mithrilstarlight



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Identity Issues, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 60,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7215928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrilstarlight/pseuds/mithrilstarlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alayne was born, Sansa had to die. Chance brought Willas into Alayne's life, but can it bring back the dead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chance

The rain outside of Chataya’s restaurant and bar was cold and relentless. Business was slow, even for a Wednesday night. It was just past the usual dinner rush, although with this weather the rush had consisted of eight people. A record low, perhaps. Marei and Dancy didn’t mind the lack of customers, since it left more time for gossip back in the kitchen. Alayne was stuck behind the bar, not having the luxury of hiding in the back when things were slow. If Randa or Shae were working on slow nights like this, they’d usually keep her company. Alayne wasn’t that lucky tonight.

Alayne had been sitting at the end of the empty bar for nearly half an hour, staring mindlessly out the window. She watched as poor souls caught in the rain ran by the front window, hiding under an umbrellas and coats. The streets were backed up, probably due to yet another car accident some few blocks away. There was always a car accident along Silk Street, resulting in a continuous wall of halted taxis and towncars. Alayne watched as the door to one of the taxis opened up. A tall man leaning on a cane got out, hiding under a newspaper as he made his way out of the street and towards the door of the restaurant.

Once inside, he stuffed the damp newspaper into one of the large pockets of his dark coat. He walked over to the bar, the tap of his wooden cane muffled by the rubber cap fitted on its bottom. This was her cue to get back to work. She slid down from the stool and walked behind the counter. Scooping up a towel, she hooked it into her back pocket and then looked at him expectantly. He was certainly taking his time. As he stripped off his coat and laid it over the stool next to him, she cleared her throat.

“Can I get you something to drink?” The man looked up, gave a quick nod, and then sat down. He ran his hand through his short, chestnut brown curls and looked at the selection of bottles on the wall behind her.

“Whiskey, thank you.” That was all he said before he turned his attention away from her and started to massage what she guessed was his leg just above the knee. Her gaze lingered a few seconds while she retrieved a glass for him. She could see him wincing a bit, and wondered why he was having such a bad cramp and if it was related to why he needed the cane.

Alayne poured his drink and set it down in front of him. He only glanced up for a brief second to give a half-smile in thanks. With her job done, she retreated to the other side of the bar and pulled out her phone. She glanced his way every now and then, watching as he alternated between his drink and his leg. There was something weirdly familiar about him. She had definitely seen his face before, but he wasn’t a regular at the restaurant. He certainly didn’t live near her, because in the two years she had been in that dumpy little apartment with Randa and Mya, Randa would have definitely pointed him out more than a few times. He also looked too posh to live in the area. No one with the kind of money needed to afford a suit like that would live in her cluster of buildings. That honor was reserved for produce delivery drivers, flirtatious waitresses, and bartenders trying to make enough to start their own online clothing business.

A thump on her shoulder pulled Alayne out of her daydream. Dancy gestured to the guy and arched her brow. Alayne responded with a shrug. She didn’t know what the issue was. Plenty of well-dressed guys in suits came in for a drink on weeknights. Dancy rolled her eyes and then grabbed Alayne’s phone, typing something in, and then handing it back. Alayne looked down to see a picture of Willas Tyrell, the heir to the Tyrell company and family fortune. She looked up from the picture to the man’s face on the other side of the bar. Aside from the significant stubble now on his jaw, the resemblance was undeniable, and by all logic it probably was him. Alayne waved the redhead away, laughing. It was a good thing she made a habit of silencing the employee group chat during her shifts, or her phone would be vibrating every two seconds. There was no doubt the Tyrell’s presence had already been announced and was a topic of great interest.

This new development was an interesting one, for sure. Alayne pocketed her phone and took another look at Willas. She stared off into space as she searched through memories of when she was Sansa, looking for any possible history between the two. None came to mind, although that wasn’t surprising given Eddard’s stiff stance on family privacy. Sansa, even when living in King’s Landing with her father, wasn’t often allowed to go to public functions. And certainly not one where Sansa could have met Willas. The Tyrells, on the other hand, had always been a public family. Anyone who paid attention to the media knew what the Tyrell siblings looked like.

_“Dad, I want to go. What’s the harm? You’re flying Robb all the way down here from Winterfell to attend, so why not me?” Sansa stared her father down as they stood in the kitchen of the family’s King’s Landing apartment. It wasn’t that difficult when she had grown nearly as tall as him._

_Eddard sighed, rubbing his temples before addressing his daughter. “Not only do you have classes the following morning, but I still don’t want you in the public eye. Robb is attending because I say so. You have no legitimate reason to go, and so you won’t. End of story.”_

_Sansa wasn’t satisfied with his answer. In all likelihood Joffrey would simply ask her as his date and then Father would have no choice but to let her attend. She gaped as he held out his hand, halting her before she could argue any further, as though he had read her mind. She stormed out of the room with a loud, angry groan as her only response to the lost argument._

Joffrey didn’t ask her to be his date to the gala. In hindsight, Alayne was glad that Eddard had been so protective. While there were official portraits that often circulated the media when something big had happened, the Starks had managed to remain a very private family. Eight years later, no one who only knew Sansa’s face by a handful of newspaper clippings would be able to put two and two together. When Sansa had dropped off the radar, she might as well have died. It was a wonder what a new hair color and some makeup could do to change a person’s face entirely, not to mention the age difference. Petyr had taught her well, as much as she hated to admit it. Alayne had taken great care in avoiding anyone who would know Sansa. Willas wasn’t one of them, but his presence was still unnerving.

It was at this point that Alayne realized she was still staring at Willas. She probably would’ve stared longer had he not met her gaze and given a polite smile. Shaking her head, she pulled herself back to the present. His glass was empty and he had pushed it away.

“More, or is that all?” She paused in front of the whiskey bottle, waiting.

“That’s all, thank you,” Willas said as he pulled out his wallet. She closed the rest of the distance between them and took his glass as well as his cash. Both were slotted away in their appropriate places, the first going in the bin of dirty dishes and the second filed away in the register’s cash box. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he pulled a small notebook out of his coat pocket, looked around, and then wrote something down. Alayne tried to discretely see what he was writing, but the letters were in a slanted scrawl she couldn’t make out upside down and at a distance. He looked up at her when he was done and gave a polite smile as he closed the notebook. She replied with a curt nod and then returned to her work. She hoped he didn’t think she was trying to be nosy, even if that’s exactly what she was doing. He slipped on his coat and donned the makeshift newspaper umbrella as he exited the restaurant. He tracked down a new taxi, not a difficult task in the still gridlocked street, and was out soon out of sight.

“So did he slip you his number with that cash?” Alayne jumped as Marei spoke, and looked over her shoulder to find both Dancy and Marei standing there.

“Very funny, but no. Served him his drink and that was all. Also, can you two stop freaking out any time any guy who is mildly attractive walks through that door? I swear, it’s like you two are starved dogs, the way you watch these men.” Alayne hoisted the half-full bin of dirty glasses to her hip and walked out from behind the bar.

“It’s not every day that Willas fucking Tyrell walks in your door, now is it? Come on, he was cute and you know for a fact he’s single. You missed your chance, Alayne! You never flirt with any of the guys you serve.” Marei gestured to the door and supposedly the recently-exited Tyrell. Dancy crossed her arms, nodding in agreement.

“I admit we do a lot of chasing, but it’s almost like you just don’t care. I get that this is only a temporary job for you, but at least have fun with it,” Dancy said.

“It’s almost like I treat my job with a professional attitude,” Alayne said as she pushed past the girls and delivered her payload to the kitchen for washing. “In any case, it was a one-time visit, I’m sure of it. I’ve never seen him here before and we’re likely to never see him again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's real. All of the planning and it's finally real.
> 
> I'll update the tags and rating as the story progresses.


	2. Repetition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas returns a few nights later. Alayne is caught in a maddening mixture of fear and attraction as she struggles to decide how to handle his presence.

Friday nights, as in most restaurants, saw peak traffic at Chataya’s. The tables were filled, and the packed reservation list promised a continuous stream of people for the next few hours. Alayne wove through the busy restaurant, sharing a smile and wave with the co-worker she’d be soon replacing behind the bar. As she neared the door to the back room, someone grabbed her arm. Randa yanked Alayne to face away from the bar, her eyes wide with excitement and a suggestive smile playing on her lips.

“Alayne, you’ll never guess who has been sitting at the bar since six,” Randa said in a hushed tone as she nodded her head toward the bar.

Alayne stood in a confused, awkward silence for a moment as she cycled through the few people it could be. Was it Harry? He and Alayne hadn’t spoken since she ended their relationship, so probably not. Petyr would never surprise her with a visit, it wasn’t his style.Alayne leaned forward, squinting at Randa. “I’m sorry, what?” Randa let out an over-dramatic sigh and nudged Alayne to turn around and look. She pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly before turning to look over her shoulder. It wasn’t Harry or Petyr. It was Willas Tyrell.

Alayne’s body stiffened as her dinner threatened to come back up in a fit of anxiety. He had to have recognized her somehow, even if the odds were next to none.She inhaled sharply and tried to compose herself. He was only there for another drink, and that was all. As though he could sense their combined stares, he glanced up from his drink in their direction. Before he could make eye contact, she forced herself to play apathetic and turned back to Randa. “So, he liked the place and came back for a few more drinks. Your point?"

“Don’t be ridiculous, Alayne, he came back because he’s been looking for you!” Randa playfully smacked Alayne’s shoulder.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Randa, he came back because we’re a well-rated restaurant and serve expensive alcohol.” Alayne gave a mocking, obviously fake smile to match her sarcastic tone.Alayne put her hand up between the two of them and then turned to walk away, shaking her head.“Look, I need to get ready for my shift and you have tables to wait on. We can discuss this later.” She smiled to herself and rolled her eyes at Randa’s antics. A small prickle on the back of Alayne's neck gave her the suspicion that Willas was watching as she slipped through the door to the back room. “Seven hells,” she muttered to herself as she collapsed on the small bench in the center of the room. Her heart had sped up at the sight of him, sending a shot of adrenaline through her system. Her hands shook ever so slightly as she took deep breaths. She reminded herself that there was no way he was here to find Sansa. It was so unlikely that she shouldn’t even be considering it.

“I assume Myranda already told you?” Shae gave a small smile as she entered the room.

Alayne jumped at the voice, surprised that she hadn’t heard the clunky door open. “Of course.” She stood up and stuffed her bag into her locker. Alayne let out a groan as she straightened out her black button-down shirt and pulled her dark brown hair over one shoulder. She didn’t need to see Shae’s face to know the woman was probably staring her down.“I’m being practical, Shae, and not getting worked up over some guy who may or may not fancy me. And since when are you on her side? You’re usually the voice of reason.” Alayne turned around and crossed her arms.

“Wouldn’t it be fun, though? To have some rich, mysterious man have an interest in you?” Shae shrugged and swung her bag over her shoulder. “Just think about it,” she said before giving Alayne’s shoulder a squeeze and leaving for the night.

Alayne let the idea sink in for a moment before she scowled at how ridiculous she was starting to sound. It was unbelievable that Willas Tyrell, a rich heir and member of Westerosi high society, was in this restaurant twice in a single week just to see a random bartender. For the millionth time, she went over her memories of their last encounter. He had only stayed for a single drink, and as popular as Chataya’s restaurant was for its atmosphere, it was rare to see someone like Willas here for anything other than a business meal. Perhaps Randa was right? He had already been there for almost two hours and had seated himself specifically at the bar. She shook her head and told herself that there was no use in getting this worked up over something she couldn’t control.

Several deep breaths later, Alayne's well-practiced, professional, and definitely fake smile was in place and she was ready to face her five hour shift. She re-entered the main restaurant with her head held high and her gaze focused on the myriad of bottles on the wall behind the bar. That was her job. Serve alcohol and collect money. Making conversation with customers wasn’t required. Even so, there was a prickle on her neck as she walked behind the counter and past Willas. She logged herself as on duty at the register and began her shift. Orders started coming in and she had no time to worry about Willas. He sat in his corner, chatting with other patrons and taking slow sips from his drink every few minutes. Alayne was sure to only watch him when he wasn’t looking. Orders from the tables came frequently, and with the first couple Randa delivered a nod to Willas’s end of the bar and a silent urge to start a conversation. The dinner rush kept Alayne busy, but eventually Willas pushed his glass forward and was attempting to get her attention. She drew a slow breath and reinforced her fake smile in preparation.

“Another highball, please,” Willas said. He looked her in the eye, smiling as he let go of his glass, and Alayne couldn’t look away.

Her eyes quickly soaked in every detail of his face, jumping from his gentle, closed-mouth smile to his eyes. The look he gave her gave the brief illusion that it was only the two of them in the entire room. They looked so warm and friendly and for a moment she forgot that he was probably also memorizing her face the way she was memorizing his. A growing tightness in her chest as she unconsciously held her breath eventually forced Alayne to break eye contact. She tore her gaze away as quickly as possible and mixed his drink, taking slow, deep breaths. She felt a warm and tingly sensation in the pit of her stomach mixed with the expected nausea. Clenching her jaw in an attempt to stay focused, she returned to Willas and placed his drink on the counter. His gaze didn't falter and she was trapped again as he nodded and took his drink in his hand. She felt the sensation spread from her stomach through her body as she turned away again to add the charge to his tab. Her palms began to itch, and she rubbed her hands on her pants in an attempt to make the feeling go away. It didn’t matter if Randa had been right about his interest in her. This overwhelming and airy feeling inside of her was doing more to raise her heart rate than the nerves ever did. It was beating so forcefully that she could feel her pulse echo through her body. It was as though she was eighteen again, the way her body reacted to just looking at him.

_Sansa sat beneath one of the massive oaks in the main courtyard of King’s Landing University. She lovingly stroked the cover of the book sitting in her lap. She had just been assigned her first reading for class, but she already could have recited the passages from heart if asked. A degree in historical literature and poetry was useless in her father’s opinion, but it seemed natural for Sansa. She cracked open the book, careful not to crease the binding too much. It wouldn’t hurt to refresh her memory for next class._

_Sansa looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps brushing through the grass. A tall, blond boy stepped up and sat down beside her, casually leaning back on an elbow before holding out his hand. “Joffrey Baratheon,” he said._

_A wave of butterflies rushed through Sansa’s stomach as she watched the incredibly handsome boy situate himself next to her. She closed her book before reaching over to shake Joffrey’s hand, feeling as though her body weren’t her own. “I know. We’ve actually met before. I’m Sansa Stark. Our fathers have worked together.”_

_Joffrey smirked, reaching up to unnecessarily brush his shining hair away from his perfect face. “Nonsense. I would’ve remembered a beautiful girl such as yourself.” He focused his gaze on her as he said every word, sounding as romantic as the poetry she had been reading._

_Sansa could feel the false heat of her face turning red. She reached up to pull a few locks of it over her shoulder as she returned his stare. She was enthralled by him and the way he was looking at her, and wished that she could live in this moment forever. She was hopelessly mesmerized by his eyes, almost too green to be natural. “You have a way with words, Joffrey Baratheon,” she said shyly._

_“Please, call me Joffrey,” he said quietly as he sat up. He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Sweet Sansa.” At his touch, Sansa felt an almost electric shock go shoot through her skin and in that moment she knew she was in love._

The call of another customer jerked Alayne out of her memory. She felt dazed and light-headed from reliving a memory she regretted with every fiber of her being. She took a deep breath and smiled again, trying to appear as unaffected and professional as possible. No one but her needed to know that she felt like her entire body had just been hit with a brick wall. As the next two hours wore on, she found herself glancing over at Willas more and more often. Each time she looked at him, her reaction was less panic and more captivation.

She berated herself internally for how stupid this all was. The last time she had felt this visceral of a reaction to a guy was Joffrey, and he had been Sansa’s greatest mistake. Alayne had vowed to never cave the way Sansa had because looks and charm weren’t everything. She had learned that lesson the hard way. Harry Hardyng had been a safe choice in Alayne’s romantic life, no spark of immediate attraction involved. And that worked out pretty well until she moved and ended things. So why was she having this reaction to Willas? Why couldn’t it have been some other nobody like her with an uncomplicated life? Willas’s world was messy, and Alayne had buried it with Sansa and moved on with her life.

She dissected the way he had looked at her as her body floated around the bar, continuing her job without pause. There was no recognition in his eyes, no sign that he was seeing anything more than a pretty stranger serving him a drink. She saw nothing accusatory or decisive, just enchantment. There had been a moment where everything else melted away and he was all that existed. There was a small break in orders and she leaned forward, resting her hands on her side of the counter to think. Was she also feeling the same enchantment? If so, she shuddered at the thought of him returning again and pushing this even further. Her fear of discovery by him was turning into a fear of what this lovestruck nonsense in her head would lead to if this continued. 

Finally, Willas paid and left. He had ordered a total of three drinks from her. The only words that had passed between them were requests and the bill. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he exited the restaurant. It was difficult for her to not let out a heavy sigh of relief. Even if he was out of sight, the way her gut still tingled meant he was far from out of mind.

It was almost one in the morning when Alayne and the other girls finished closing up the restaurant. Randa and Alayne waved goodbye to the other two before starting the short walk back to their apartment. Randa looped her arm through Alayne’s and they walked in silence for about a block before Randa’s pace slowed and she began clicking her tongue. Alayne could tell that her friend was trying to illicit a conversation, but she wouldn’t engage. That would only add fuel to the gossip fire, and Randa burned hot enough on her own. Eventually, Randa unhooked her arm and stopped them on the sidewalk. She clasped Alayne on both sides and begged for details.

“Okay, time is up and I’ve got to know. What is up with you and Willas? Don’t tell me that it’s nothing, because it’s not. I saw how you kept looking over at him.” Randa’s voice turned almost whiny as she leaned her head back and hunched her shoulders.

Alayne grasped for an answer that wouldn’t send her friend off in a screeching, happy frenzy. “There’s absolutely nothing there. If I knew, I would tell you.” She mentally kicked herself for settling with a blatant lie. She hadn't even come off as honest, just exasperated. The longer she could avoid the truth, the better, even if it was only to feed her own denial.

“Liar,” Randa said. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight, sticking a hip out. Alayne scoffed and tried to turn away, but Randa’s determined glare was enough to keep the two of them in place. Shereached out and jabbed Alayne in the shoulder. “You may not want to accept it, but I know you and I know something is going on up in that crafty brain of yours.”

Alayne frowned and rubbed the spot Randa had poked, her stiff and upright posture loosening for the first time in hours. “Looked at him how? Randa, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. I was his bartender, so I kept an eye on him and his drink. If you saw anything else, you’re making it up.” Alayne shook her head and continued walking down the street.

Randa caught up to Alayne a few moments later and continued arguing. “Alayne, I’m not letting this go. Maybe you didn’t see it, but I did. Wednesday night you said that he came in, drank, and then left. He comes back two days later, sits at the bar for four hours and looks at you more than his own drink? Is it really impossible that a cute guy like him could have noticed you? I mean, just look at him! He has those gorgeous brown curls and the honey-colored eyes. The way his sleeves were rolled up to his elbow nearly floored me. He had just the right amount of stubble, where he looks rugged, but not scruffy, you know?”

Alayne didn’t need her friend’s detailed description to recreate Willas’s face in her head. She was convinced that every time she closed her eyes she would see him, the way it was burned into her memory. Still, Randa like to put a sexier edge on everything, especially when it came to talking about men.

Randa groaned in a way that made Alayne lean slightly away from her friend in concern. "And did you see how that vest fit him? He’s so slender, and I’d bet my entire savings that if you ripped open that shirt, you’d find a really hot set of abs underneath.”

 _You’d bet your life it it meant having a chance at finding out_. Alayne waved her hand before Randa could go any further. “Can you please stop with this fantasy? This is a real person we’re talking about, not a sex dream.” Randa may as well bed him herself, the way she was going on. She did have a point, though. The problem was that Alayne knew her friend too well. The second Randa knew that Alayne had felt something anywhere close to attraction, all subtlety would be thrown out the window when Willas was around. It was better to play it safe for a while and figure things out on her own terms. They reached their building and Alayne dug the keys out of her bag.

Randa followed Alayne inside and up the stairs, racing past and stopping them before they entered the apartment. “My point is that he is really nice to look at and he has his eyes on you. I will never forgive you if you don’t at least talk to him.” She gave a small huff and made sure to keep her back glued to where the lock on their door was.

Alayne sighed and rubbed her temples, loosening her stiff and upright posture and admitted defeat. It was half past one in the morning, and the walls of this dusty little hallway weren’t very thick. “Fine. If he comes back again, I’ll talk to him. Until then, it’s all just a big coincidence and we’ll leave it at that,” she whispered, holding the key up between them in lieu of a finger to point. She stiffened her posture once again and tossed her hair back. Randa silently punched the air in victory and stepped out of the way.

When Alayne was finally alone in her room, she let herself collapse on the floor and leaned against the end of her bed. Her mind jumped around wildly from Randa’s abrasive interrogation to the way Willas had looked at her. Her stomach turned and she couldn’t tell if it was because she was anxious or still feeling butterflies. She stood by her earlier conclusion that he didn’t know who she used to be. She was still safe, in that respect. But the way he had looked at her was something different altogether. That rush of desire and attraction she had felt when they locked eyes was still so real to her. The romantic buried deep inside of her couldn’t help but scream that this was a sign. Randa was right, as much as Alayne hated to admit it. The warm, tingly sensation creeped through her once again at the thought of seeing him again soon. She didn’t just hope for his return, she was counting on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was way longer than I expected it to be oops. Sorry not sorry?


	3. Engage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas returns for a third visit and finally engages Alayne in conversation. She comes to realize that a little fun never hurt anybody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this took as long as it did. I injured my elbow and wrist, which isn't exactly a good thing when you're trying to type for extended periods of time. But it's finally here! Enjoy!

Alayne showed up to her Wednesday night shift with the same nervous disposition as the last few days. Every night, she wrung her hands and looked at the door every few seconds. One of the waitstaff came up to her once an hour and gently asked if she was alright. Every time, Alayne’s hands shot apart from each other and moved to her hips as she faked a smile and assured them that nothing was wrong. They gave her a suspicious look and walked away. The obvious truth was that something was very wrong. Willas’s presence terrified her, but not just for the sake of her safety. Even if his interest was innocent, interaction with him meant interaction with his world - Sansa’s world. But more importantly, she was terrified of how weak she was at the very thought of him, let alone his presence. She refused to call this a crush, even though that’s what this was. Not only were they ridiculous and childish, but she knew how quickly her feelings would grow at a mere hope.

Mya was sick at home and cranky about being bedridden. Randa, lacking Alayne’s patience, stayed for a bit after her double shift to have a drink and avoid going home. As nosy as she could be, she had avoided talking about Willas other than a reminder upon departure of Alayne’s promise to talk to him. That was nearly an hour ago. It was well past ten now, and the large group in the corner, with their table covered in empty dishes and used glasses, continued to order drinks as they laughed the evening away. A young couple was down at one end of the bar huddled close together, but otherwise the counter was empty. In an attempt to stop herself from looking like such a nervous wreck, Alayne broke from her hand-wringing to doodle on a napkin. Sketching embroidery ideas kept her from fantasizing about the next encounter. She had played it out so many times in her head it felt like it had already happened.

The door opened, the brief few seconds of ambient city noises her signal, and she slapped the pen down on the counter to look up. Just as every other time she had heard the door open, her heart sped up and she prayed that it would be him walking through the door. It was Willas. Alayne’s face froze for a second in her open-mouthed stare. He looked over at her, and she snapped out of her shock. I must look like a dead fish with my mouth hanging open. So much for playing it cool, you stupid, lovestruck- You don’t have a crush. You don’t have a- Their eyes met for a split second and the shock was replaced by a giddy feeling that buzzed through her body. Seven hells you have a crush. She cleared her throat and swept the used napkins into a little stack for later. Her hands shook slightly as she slid the pen into her pocket. She consciously moved her hands to the edge of the counter and squeezed as hard as she could, turning her knuckles white. The alternative was more hand-wringing.

She took a slow, deep breath and calmed her racing thoughts as the rhythmic tap of his cane drew closer. He had finally shown up again, after nearly a week. Why had he waited so long? She glanced down at her watch. It was about the same time as when he had come in last Wednesday. Of course, he didn’t know her schedule and probably waited until now specifically because he knew she’d be here already. She tried to keep her gaze on anything that wasn’t him. How did I not see this coming? This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t be this worked up, she thought frustratedly as clenched her jaw until it hurt.

“Is this seat taken?” Willas asked, gesturing to the stool right in front of Alayne. He flashed a wide smile as he rocked back and waited for an answer.

His words had pulled Alayne from her self-deprecation and she recovered by slipping on a professional smile. Her grip on the counter loosened and she stood up straighter. “Yes, that seat is specifically saved for the president himself,” she said, her voice deadpan despite the cheery look.

“Ah, well I’d hate to take such an important man’s chair,” Willas said with a laugh as he stepped over to the next chair and sat down.

The tension broke as he laughed and she covered her lower face with her fingers to hide her poor attempt to not do the same. The laugh stifled, she nodded slowly, cleared her throat, and jerkily crossed her arms. She watched as he shifted in the seat until he was comfortable. He rested his elbows on the counter and leaned forward a bit. Her frustration melted away and was replaced with the warm sensation that she had felt the last time they met. “Are you going to order, or not?” she asked.

“That whiskey you served me last week, thank you.” Willas pointed a long finger to the collection of whiskey bottles behind Alayne.

Alayne turned her back to Willas as she poured the drink and took the opportunity to draw another slow and deep breath. She closed her eyes and gently exhaled as she put the cap back on the bottle. She consciously reminded herself to tread carefully when talking with him, despite her urge to throw caution into the wind and shamelessly flirt. He would ask questions, and the right details slipped could mean bad news for Alayne. Still, it seemed paranoid of her to still be so worried after any search for Sansa had died years ago. She put the worries out of her mind and turned around to face him again. She placed the drink on a clean napkin and slid it forward.

“Willas,” he said, holding out his hand before she could turn away.

Alayne looked down at his outstretched hand. Her gaze lingered for an extra fraction of a second before snapping her eyes back up to his face. Her fingers twitched slightly in hesitation before she stuck her hand out as well. His hand was warm, as opposed to hers, which had been exposed to the chilled restaurant and cold glasses for a couple of hours. Not only did the warmth of his hand relax her grip, but the contact sent that familiar tingling sensation up her arm. “Alayne,” she responded.

“Your hand is so cold,” he laughed as they broke their grip. “It’s like you’re made of ice. Are your hands always like that?"

Her heart warmed at his amusement and her face heated as it reddened a shade. Alayne smiled, intertwining her fingers in front of her waist to keep from fidgeting. “In here, yes.” She paused for a moment. “You’ve been the talk of the staff, you know.”

“Really? I had no idea I caused such a ruckus. Why?” He gave her a confused tilt of the head and a small chuckle before taking a sip of his drink.

“Because it’s not every day that Willas Tyrell walks into the room unannounced,” Alayne said quickly. She mentally winced at the eager tone and glanced down at her hands as they again gripped the edge of the counter. “I mean, we don’t see big names like yourself here very often."

Willas waved a hand at her. “Please, I may be a Tyrell but I’m not my siblings. I’m surprised any of you even recognized me. I’ve been a man behind the curtain for nearly a decade.”

Alayne pushed off of the counter and crossed her arms again. “You’re a man behind the curtain who just closed a massive deal buying the Brightwater land and absorbing the Florent company, netting the Tyrell company well over fifty million in revenue.” Alayne stared him down.

“Wow. You’re right, but it wasn’t exactly a big story. I’m surprised you would know that off the top of your head. Can I ask why?” Willas leaned forward, settling in to listen. His brow crinkled in confusion and interest.

Alayne laughed nervously, not sure how detailed of an explanation he expected. She smiled, shrugging a bit as she looked down at her hands as she put together an answer in her head. “Well, my father worked as an economist for many years and emphasized being up-to-date on everything. I guess you could call it prolonged exposure.” She looked back up at him with a softer smile.

“I guess dinner was more numbers than words?” Willas joked. He took another drink and then slowly spun his glass on the counter. They both watched the dark liquid inside slosh around. “So then where did the bartending come from? Don’t get me wrong, you’re excellent at it, but now I’m interested."

Alayne snorted a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Please, you were interested before I even opened my mouth.” She immediately regretted the quip and tried to quickly return to their original discussion. Their conversation had been going so smoothly that she had briefly forgotten that this wasn't one of her fantasies. There was a brief silence and she shifted her weight back and forth where she stood. “But, to answer your question, it’s more to pay the bills than anything else. I’m building a clothing line, but things like that take money and time.” She watched Willas nod slowly. She could practically see the gears turning in his head. Her stomach turned a bit at his curious gaze and she fidgeted in the silence. She didn’t like it when people were trying to figure her out. “Fair’s fair, you’ve been asking me a bunch of questions, it’s my turn now.”

“Fire away, then.” He gulped down the last of his drink, but didn’t let go of it for a refill.

Alayne thought for a moment, her jaw set as she took her turn staring at him with curiosity. There was so much about him that she could just look up online, so it had to be a worthwhile question. “What really brought you to King’s Landing? Aside from the job. You obviously chose to take the position, but what made you say yes?"

Willas shook his head slowly as she finished her question. “No, actually, I didn’t have a choice. My grandmother wanted someone from the family running the branch, and she wasn’t about to let my father out of her sight. So, the thorny old woman ordered me out here.” He shrugged and then pushed his glass forward. “I’m sorry it’s not a more interesting story.”

Alayne nodded, biting her lip hard to prevent her disappointment from showing. She was struggling to come up with something else to say. What would Randa do? The answer was obvious, and Alayne admitted that it might be time to pull a leaf from her friend’s book. She poured him another glass and set the bottle down between them. “I was hoping for something exciting, like chasing a girl,” she said, throwing him a sly smile.

Alayne watched as Willas lowered his gaze and cleared his throat. “I actually haven’t dated in a while,” he said quietly. “So, no, it’s definitely not that. I don’t get out much on my own on account of the leg.”

Alayne looked away, slumping a bit in guilt for cornering him with that comment. She tried different responses in her head to find one that didn’t make him feel any worse than he probably already did. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve actively avoided meeting people and flirting until now. No, that was just sad. If it makes you feel any better, my entire life is a lie because I’m still hiding from a previous relationship. No, that was the truth. If it makes you feel any better, I’m a workaholic who just never bothered. Yes, that would do. But by then, the silence had already grown too heavy to be broken by the same topic.

They stared off into space in silence for a few moments. A round of orders from the large group in the corner broke the lull as she stepped away for a few minutes to work. When she returned, it seemed as though he had recovered because the pleasant look was back on his face. “So, it was just you and your father?” he asked.

She reached up to scratch behind her neck and buy herself some thinking time. He was starting to ask personal questions. There was always that initial moment, when someone began to ask Alayne about herself, where she would instinctively run through the rehearsed history that Petyr had given her when she assumed the new identity. Sansa had always been good at memorizing large chunks of information, but Petyr had warned her day after day that unless the lies came as naturally to her as the truth, she would never actually be Alayne.

_Sansa sat stiffly at the dinner table as she picked at the lamb and greens in front of her. Petyr wasn’t the best chef, but she wasn’t about to be impolite to the man who had basically just saved her life. Still, she missed the exotic and savory meals she had grown accustomed to in King’s Landing. She pushed the limp spinach leaves back and forth across her plate until Petyr cleared his throat and grabbed her attention._

_“Sansa, we need to discuss your new identity,” Petyr said. “I have all of the papers ready for you, but this is more than just signing on a few dotted lines. Now, I gave you my mother’s name, Alayne. It’s common in the Vale and no one will suspect a thing. As my daughter-”_

_“But you’re not married,” Sansa interjected. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds as she refused to look up and meet what was probably a pointed glare. She set her fork down and smoothed the napkin on her lap as she waited for him to continue._

_“How perceptive, Alayne. Yes, I am unmarried, but I am no stranger to women.” Sansa’s stomach turned at the thought of Petyr being intimate with anyone. “I had a brief affair with a Braavosi woman while in Gulltown, but didn’t know about the pregnancy. She died while giving birth and you became a ward of the state."_

_“So my last name is Stone?” Sansa mulled over the name in her head. Alayne Stone. It had a much nicer ring to it than Alayne Baelish. “But if you’ve adopted me, then why isn’t my last name Baelish?”_

_“Ah, not so fast, sweetling,” Petyr said, holding up a finger. “I never officially adopted you. You found me after you were discharged from the state’s care and already an adult. I simply opened my home to you in an attempt to make up for lost time.”_

_Sansa nodded slowly. If not for Petyr, Alayne would have almost no money and no prospects. Petyr was moderately wealthy and a very private man. No one would question the sudden appearance of a lost daughter._

_“Alayne,” Petyr said. Sansa didn’t look up. “Alayne!” he repeated more sharply. Sansa jumped, looking up at Petyr. She could see him growing frustrated with her perceived hesitance. “Unless you want to be found and dragged into a long, potentially life-threatening family feud, then you need to understand something.” Petyr paused as he stood up and walked over to Sansa. He gestured for her to stand as well. She was almost of height with him, but his presence was surprisingly commanding as he looked at her. “You cannot simply be Alayne in here,” he said as he lightly touched her temple. She flinched slightly at the contact. “If you are going to survive, then I need you to be Alayne in here, as well.” He lowered his hand and touched just above her left breast, where she could feel her heart beating. He withdrew his hand and stared her down, waiting for an answer. There was a lingering burn where he had touched her and a cold shiver ran up her spine. Lies were still lies, even if they were meant to keep her alive._

_Petyr had made clear how much of a risk taking her in was, even if he claimed it was simply a favor for Catelyn. Unlike her siblings, however, Sansa wasn’t being shipped off to some remote place. He was taking her under his wing and putting himself in the figurative line of fire. It was a fatherly thing to do, and she figured she owed it to him to play along until this nightmare was over. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Yes, Father."_

Willas cleared his throat, and she jumped. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. Yes, it was just the two of us. I grew up as a ward of the state. We never bothered to change my last name.” Eight years later she still saw it as Sansa’s lie sometimes, even if it was Alayne’s truth. She and Willas were quiet for a moment as they look off into the distance. When the conversation died rather than turning into an interrogation, she felt relieved and a bit less frightened. Alayne Stone was a total stranger to him, and she decided that a little flirting wouldn’t be the end of the world. He finally broke the stillness and downed the last of his drink. He let go of his glass and she swiped it away from him, along with the bottle. “You call me an excellent bartender and yet you’ve only had whiskey. Care to try something a bit more creative?” Randa would be proud of her for that one, and Alayne smiled deviously.

“You think it’s the drinks I’m here for?” Willas said.

Alayne froze, but in surprise rather than panic. She hadn’t expected him to be so forthcoming, and she couldn’t deny that his comeback had been incredibly smooth. As she stared at his eyes, everything from her smile to her stance softened and the warmth that had previously centered around her stomach had migrated up to her chest. Feeling almost airy, she pulled away and exchanged the whiskey for a taller glass and several ingredients. She watched him crane his neck to see what she was doing as she bent over and pulled a lemon wedge out of the fridge below the counter to decorate the rim of the glass. “Don’t ask, just drink.” She watched as he carefully tasted and swallowed. “Quite something, hm?”

It was Willas’s turn to smile deviously. “Quite something, indeed,” he said before taking another sip. The look in his eyes had gone from flirtatious to outright seductive. He set the glass down and licked the slightly sour drink from his lips.

Alayne couldn’t help but break her focus on his eyes to watch his mouth for a moment. She gently bit her lower lip as she watched him. It had been a long time since she felt this strong a desire for someone. Randa was right, he was just so enticing to look at. She moved her gaze back up to his eyes, which looked to be flecked with gold in the room’s warm, soft lighting. But it was the way he looked at her with his eyes that kept her interest rather than the eyes themselves. It was a look that she swore matched her own desire. The truthfulness of that was a puzzle she was now determined to solve.

After what felt like an eternity of staring, he took another sip and glanced down at his watch. Did he know how often she drifted away like that when looking at him? Did he drift off the same way or was he more focused in his thinking? “I’ve been here for forty-five minutes and have already had two glasses of whiskey. How drunk is this concoction going to get me?” The seductive tone disappeared from his face and was replaced by the more casual interest from before.

Alayne waved her hand. Given his size and probable tolerance, she wasn’t worried. It was her job to watch her customers’ intoxication levels. Then again, rarely did she surprise them with something they hadn’t ordered. “Not very. You might feel it by the end, but nothing more than a buzz. I know what I’m doing.” She didn’t realize how the last bit sounded until it was already out. In the haze of surprise lust, she had forgotten to sound at least a little bit professional when assuring him that she wasn’t trying to get him drunk.

Willas raised his brow at her and took another gulp. He must have picked up on the tone of her voice, but he didn’t say anything more about it. He seemed to be drinking this one faster than the others. Whether it was because he liked it or because he didn’t have much time left that evening, she couldn’t tell. Between swallows, he started their conversation up again. “Like you said earlier, fair’s fair. What brought you to King’s Landing?”

Alayne shrugged, staring into space for a moment while she thought. There wasn’t any real reason. She moved because Mya had and Mya because of Randa. Alayne had worked hard to build a small circle of friends during her limited social time in the Vale, and after six years under Petyr’s wing she decided it was time to move on with her life and do more than sit around and wait. “It was my friend’s idea. She wanted to get out of the Vale and dragged myself and a mutual friend along for the ride. I have to admit, I also enjoyed finally escaping those mountains.”

Alayne was pulled away by the orders of a late-night dinner couple. When she came back to Willas, his glass was almost empty. She quietly tallied up his bill at the register and waited to see if he was planning on ordering something else. By how frequently he seemed to be looking at his watch, she assumed he was getting ready to leave.

As though he had read her mind, he downed the last mouthful and then pulled out his wallet. “I’d love to stay longer, but I have an early meeting tomorrow and it would be really embarrassing if I showed up hungover.”

Alayne chuckled quietly at the thought of him stumbling into a meeting room bright and early in the morning with a hangover. It had been ages since she had any reason to be up before nine or ten, given that her job was almost exclusively nighttime hours. “No, that wouldn’t be pleasant,” she responded quietly.

“When would I be able to catch you here again?” Willas’s question was startlingly outright, and it was clear to Alayne that he had every intention of seeing her again.

Alayne tore off his receipt, and held it out to him. He waved it away, so she crinkled it up and tossed it in the trash. She hesitated to answer him because it meant this would become a regular thing. Still, if he lurked long enough he’d figure it out anyway. “I work every night except Tuesdays. But mind you, we’re not usually this empty until around ten or eleven, so this,” she gestured back and forth between them to indicate their conversation, “isn’t going to be possible much earlier than that, if that’s what you’re interested in.”

Willas nodded slowly in understanding as he collected his cane and stood up. He let out a small groan as he put his weight on the ground. Alayne watched with sympathy as he winced and grumbled. He looked up, a hopeful smile returning to his face. “Until next time, Alayne,” he said with a wave before slowly making his way out the door.

She had returned a much smaller wave, and watched him leave with a lingering smile on her lips. There was something so refreshing about what had just happened. She felt lighter, less afraid and more elated at the prospect of seeing him again. She reminded herself that she was in control and would decide how this crush plays out. She smiled and hummed quietly to herself as she cleaned up the bar and returned to her napkin doodles.

* * *

Alayne quietly unlocked the front door of her apartment later that night and was surprised to find both Mya and Randa in the main room of their little apartment. Mya was curled up on the couch reading a book she had probably stolen from Alayne’s room. Randa was also on the couch, out cold and slouching down in her seat.

Mya shrugged and looked up at Alayne, who had now noticed the trash can next to the sick girl as well as the faint smell that lingered in the air. Mya silently mimicked vomiting and then waved Alayne over. She sighed and sat down in the chair.

“It started around seven. Right after you left, actually,” Mya explained in a hoarse whisper. “I made it to the bathroom, mostly, but I keep the trash here just in case.” Alayne reached out and squeezed the sick girl’s hand. “I asked Randa to wait up with me until you got here, just in case anything happened. I don’t think she even made it an hour before passing out."

Alayne stifled a laugh. Randa was an amazing friend, but she didn’t always share Alayne’s compassion. Mya of all people should know that. “You and I both know how much Randa loves her sleep. She had the early shift today and the same tomorrow. I can’t blame her.” Alayne stood up and started digging around the kitchen for something that Mya might be able to keep down. The only thing Alayne could come up with was a package of crackers. It would have to do. She tossed the snack over to Mya as she returned to her seat. “Here, try to eat. If you can’t keep that down, I’ll go out tomorrow morning and get some medication.”

Retrieving a pillow from her room, Alayne curled up on the large chair. She watched her friend nibble at the crackers and continue reading. Eventually, Mya fell asleep and Alayne got up to turn off the lamp and set an alarm for Randa. Waking her now that Mya was asleep seemed pointless. Alayne shuffled to the clear space on the floor and tossed her pillow to one side. Should anything happen, she’d rather be out here where she would wake up immediately. As she lay on the fluffy rug, she sighed and let her thoughts drift back to Willas. He had never said when he’d be back, but she prayed to the Seven that it would be soon. She couldn’t wait to see him again.


	4. Felicitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne is subjected to Randa's gossip-hungry interrogation. Willas is the harbinger of unsettling news.

“What do you mean, he came back?!” Randa bellowed. It had been three days since Alayne last saw Willas and she had neglected to tell Randa until now. She and Alayne were in the kitchen, cooking a massive meal for the Day of the Warrior and celebrating their day off from work. Randa crossed her arms in a huff. “How could you not find five minutes to tell me?”

“She has a point, Alayne,” Mya called flatly from her seat on the couch. “Three days is a long time."

Alayne ducked as a crumpled paper bag was chucked at her head. Randa pouted, picking up and vigorously mashing her bowl of potatoes. Setting her knife down on the counter, Alayne sighed and hung her head. “Alright, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But don’t you want to hear how it went?” Alayne sweetened her voice at the end.

Randa was silent for a moment, her glare holding steady. She groaned loudly and threw an empty wrapper at Alayne. “Then get on with it already!” Randa slid over a few feet,resting the bowl against her hip, and nudged Alayne with a free elbow. “So, what happened?"

Alayne mumbled and shrugged, as though reluctant to speak. Alayne got more fun out of being secretive and teasing Randa than actually sharing the gossip, so she was going to milk this one for all it was worth. “It was nice. He introduced himself, we talked a bit about where I learned to bartend, why he was in the city—simple stuff. And he really knew how to flirt.” She swayed a little, tossing her hair back over her shoulder as she smirked.

Randa did a small dance in place, an open-mouthed smile gracing her face. She released the giant fork she was holding and grabbed Alayne’s shoulder. Alayne was startled, and her smirk was was replaced with a wide-eyed look of panic. “You were definitely flirting back, right?” Randa's eyes were wide with expectation. "I mean, you’re not the most outgoing person and I’m pretty sure I’ve only seen you flirt once in my life-"

“You mean when she out-flirted you and stole Harry right out from under your nose?” Mya interjected. Randa whipped her head around and shot Mya a death glare, releasing Alayne’s shoulder. Mya shrugged, playing innocent.“I’m just saying, she might not do it often, but she knows how.”

Alayne turned bright red at the memory of that night. Apparently, Randa had been chasing Harry for weeks. After one dance with her, he had asked Alayne out for a date the following night. Randa held a grudge about it for months, but the entire debacle had been amusing to Mya and she took every opportunity to bring it up in conversation. Randa took a deep breath, and by the look on her face Alayne knew the conversation was about to devolve into an argument over who was the better flirt. She cleared her throat, cutting Randa off, and looked back down at the vegetables she had been chopping. “At the end he asked what my hours were and promised he’d be back to see me soon,” she said, finishing quietly and bracing herself for Randa’s reaction.

Randa released an agitated sigh and then turned to Alayne, looking like nothing was wrong, and began her rapid-fire interrogation. “So when do you think he’s going to reappear? You work almost every night, why hasn’t he shown up yet?”

She had thought the same thing just yesterday. He hadn’t given any clue as to when he would return, just that he would. It was driving her insane. She shook her head slightly, her gaze unfocused. “I don’t know.” She pulled herself together and shrugged through her dazed look. “Then again, he is a busy man running an entire branch of Tyrell National."

Mya rolled her eyes and groaned loudly. Randa chucked another crumpled bag across the room, missing by several feet. “Shut up, Mya, you know you’re jealous.” They stuck their tongues out at each other before Randa returned to pestering Alayne. “But really, what’s he like? I mean, we know more about his younger brother, what’s-his-name who married his high school sweetheart a few years ago."

Alayne snorted a laugh. _Garlan. His name is Garlan, Randa. And he married Leonette Fossoway. You of all people should know that, you horrendous gossip._ Sansa had known the names of almost everyone and their mother in high society. Alayne hardly paid attention to news that wasn’t solely political, and so she bit her tongue and didn’t bother correcting Randa. “Well,” Alayne started in a matter-of-fact tone, “He seems so easy-going and funny. He spent half the time laughing. He seemed so interested in getting to know me- but not in a creepy way. And for a guy who claims to not get out much, he certainly knew how to get a girl’s attention.”

“Oh my god you have a crush,” Mya interrupted, an amused and disbelieving look on her face. Alayne smile sheepishly and bit her lip at the accusation.“I can’t believe you actually have a crush. You’ve betrayed me, Alayne.” Mya’s sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

Randa gasped. She set down her bowl and fork to put her fists on her hips indignantly. “Excuse me, Mya, but do we not remember your infatuation with Mychel?” Alayne heard the story of Mya and Mychel early on in her friendship with Randa. Mya had been head over heels in love with him until he dumped her for another girl and since then she hasn’t looked twice at a guy.

“Low blow, Randa. That’s not fair.” Mya went from mild amusement to borderline murderous at Randa’s words.

“It’s true, though. You had a massive crush on him, hypocrite. You were positively in _love_!"

Mya started to hoist herself up and over the back of the couch, ready for a fight. “Look who’s talking! You want to talk about hypocrites? How about the fact-"

Alayne held out the hand holding the knife, little bits of onion flying off the blade as she gestured for Mya to stay put. “You and your disease can stay right where you are. I don’t want you to infect everything in here. You can strangle each other later,” she said sternly. Mya flopped back down into her seat and watched Randa half-heartedly continue working. There was a long silence until Alayne spoke up again. “There was this one moment where I’m pretty sure I would’ve jumped him had the bar not been between us.” Her face flushed at the admission.

Mya snorted as she tried to keep from laughing, muttering “Oh gods,” under her breath.

Randa let out a loud, obnoxious cackle. “There we go! Now that’s the kind of gossip I like to hear!"

* * *

Alayne counted twelve days since she had last seen Willas. As each day had passed, she obsessed over his absence less and less. She no longer watched the door constantly, waiting for him to walk through. It was exhausting to constantly worry about it and her job wasn’t going to do itself. She had faith that he wasn’t the type to disappear without a word. At least, that’s what she told herself at the end of every night as she closed down the bar.

Willas finally walked in mid-afternoon on that twelfth day, a Monday. Alayne had just started her shift a few minutes ago and was side-eyeing the group of day-drinkers who were probably drunk enough to not care how loud their voices were. The restaurant wasn’t particularly full this time of the day, but it was still inconsiderate of them in her opinion.She was seriously considering cutting them off until they quieted down.

“I told you I’d be back.”

Alayne jumped and turned her head. She saw Willas’s smiling face as he sat down. The airy feeling he had left her with last time returned. Her chest warmed as she closed the distance between them. She came to a halt right across from him, drumming her fingers in irregular patterns on the counter in front of her. “It’s nice to see you again,” she said. There was a long pause. She wanted to comment on how long he had waited, but he seemed to have read her mind and spoke in her place.

“I know, it’s been a bit longer than you probably anticipated.” He hung his head a bit looking at where his hands were neatly folded on the wooden surface of the bar.

Alayne tilted her head, raising a brow. She wanted to play it off, as though she had barely thought of him in his absence. It was a cheap shot, sure, but she wanted to see what his reaction would be. Even though she was still just as interested in him as she was before, that wasn’t something he had to know just yet. “Anticipated? Why would I be waiting around for you?”

Willas gaped for a moment, eyes wide with horror, before responding. He gestured awkwardly as the first word sputtered out and then shoved his hands down into his lap. “Well,” he started. He looked down at his hands has he cleared his throat. "I was under the impression there was something happening here and you’d be as excited to see me as I am to see you.” He let out a distressed sigh and looked off to the side, not making eye contact. "But I guess I’m wrong and this is horribly embarrassing.” He laughed nervously.

His voice trailed off towards the end and Alayne’s stoic expression faded to shock while her stomach turned to stone. She hadn’t been prepared for this in any way. She couldn’t tell if the weight she felt inside was fear or simply anxiety, and decided it was probably a bit of both. Even though she, too, felt that something, she still clammed up and decided it was safer to play indifferent. _But safer for whom?_ Alayne cleared her throat and leaned forward, putting her weight on her hands and offering a small, sweet smile as she forced eye contact. “I like the honesty, but I would like to know why it took you so long to come back.”

Willas's face lit up and he leaned forward a few inches himself. “It’s been,” he paused, “a busy week in the family."

They stared at each other in silence for a second and Alayne swore that the air around them had suddenly doubled in weight. She glanced down from his eyes to his mouth, her mind flashing back to the perhaps accidentally seductive way they had enticed her last time, before pulling away from him. Her heart was pounding from the moment and she was sure that if she didn’t grab hold of something, her hands would start to shake. _May the Seven forgive me for how much I want him right now_. She clutched the edge of the counter with one hand and reached down for a whiskey glass with the other. “Something you’d like to drink to?” she asked as she straightened up and held the glass between them.

“As a matter of fact, it is,” he said with a bow of the head.

Alayne nodded once and set the glass down to get his whiskey. She took an extra few seconds to pick out the bottle, trying to come off as casually interested. “So, what’s the cause for celebration?” she called back. She picked a bottle, something nice but not their most expensive, and poured him a glass. “Or, is it the opposite?”

“See for yourself.” He pulled the newspaper out from inside of his coat and unfolded it. His smile was a bit too bright as he handed her the front page.

Alayne reached out and took the stack of inky paper from him, a smirk on her face. “You still read the physical newspaper?"

“Give me a break, Alayne, and just look at the front page,” Willas said with a scoff as he slid his glass over and spun it in his grasp.

Alayne rolled her eyes, chuckling a little at him. It was almost too easy to make fun of him. She straightened out the paper and looked down at the headline. She swore that her heart stopped as her blood went cold. Gracing the front page was a massive picture of Willas’s sister, Margaery, standing next to none other than Joffrey Baratheon. Her train of thought was caught in a horrific loop of confusion and disbelief as her body went numb at what she was seeing. She tightened her grip on the paper to keep her hands from shaking. She felt an urge to scream at Willas and warn him that his future brother-in-law is a monster who destroyed her- _no, he destroyed Sansa’s family, not Alayne’s. Alayne knows nothing._ A growing tightness in her chest reminded her to take a breath, and she struggled to keep a reasonably calm visage for Willas. Her gaze finally broke from the image of the happy couple and scanned the headline: “Baratheon-Tyrell partnership sets sights on presidency.” Alayne couldn’t bring herself to read the article. Between the picture and the headline, she already knew what it would say. She laid the paper back down on the bar between herself and Willas.

“Talk about big news, huh? My favorite is this passage right here,” he said, spinning the paper around and picking it up. He seemed unaware of the shock Alayne was in, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he was that imperceptive or it simply looked like the shock anyone would get at the news of the engagement of two people she had supposedly never met. “‘Although the political golden child’s candidacy has been long speculated, the public proposal to Tyrell National PR figurehead Margaery Tyrell came as a complete surprise.’ Honestly, they’ve been dating for nearly three years, how could they have not seen this coming? If I know my sister, and I do, they discussed this months ago and had the whole thing planned down to the second. Anyway, they go on to say how this publicity stunt has put him in the good graces of more than just his own party. Half the country is in love with him thanks to my sister’s work.” He laughed and then set the newspaper aside.

Alayne only half-listened as he continued. As he spoke, she leaned forward and placed her hands gently on the surface in front of her, her gaze going out of focus as she processed this news. She wracked her brain for any prior knowledge of Joffrey and Margaery’s relationship. If Randa, the resident know-it-all when it came to this, had told Alayne, then she must have blocked it out. She had done everything in her power to avoid hearing news of Joffrey, and now she was standing two and a half feet from his future brother-in-law. Alayne, as closely as she followed politics and the economy, had meticulously avoided most of anything Joffrey did. Her chest tightened at the realization of how short the distance between Alayne and Joffrey had become. _Breathe, Alayne. You can have a panic attack later_. She looked down at the folded newspaper, her gaze still empty.

She realized that Willas had stopped talking. She panicked for a second, not sure what kind of a reaction she was expected to have. It was safe to assume that her true feelings were not on the list of acceptable responses. _General astonishment will have to do._ She nodded slowly, paying close attention to her breathing and shakiness. As long as she didn’t look as freaked out as she felt. “Wow,” she started quietly. She took a deep breath, raised her brow, and forced as genuine of a smile as she could manage. “That’s quite the news. Congratulations, then, on your sister’s engagement.” With each word, Alayne settled into her act. She could feel the distance growing between herself and the persona Willas was seeing, as though she were outside of the situation completely.

“Thanks, Alayne. A toast, to my incredible sister and her future husband.” Willas smiled broadly and raised his glass to eye level.

Alayne tensed at the word ‘husband’ and bit down on the inside of her lower lip to prevent from doing anything more noticeable. She lowered her head, taking the extra moment to reinforce the smile, and then looked back up at him. She scrunched up her face in an attempt to look mildly apologetic. “I would, but I’m not allowed to drink on the job. Besides, it’s not my sister who’s getting married. I’m just your bartender,” she said, her head tilted.

“Oh come on, just this once,” he chuckled.

Alayne waited, watching Willas silently plead. Sighing, she pulled a glass out from under the counter and poured a couple mouthfuls of whiskey into her own glass. Holding it up next to his, she gave a curt nod and they tapped glasses. She drank the entire glass and tensed as the alcohol burn its way down into her roiling stomach.

The group at the other end of the bar pulled Alayne away from her tormenting conversation with Willas as they ordered a new round of drinks. She followed up with some busy work that she’d normally do instead of making conversation. She wasn’t ready to go back to Willas just yet. She was hardly present, her mind almost completely separated from her body as she moved around. The one thing keeping her from completely disappearing was how disgustingly nauseous she felt. The water seemed to have just given her stomach more to work with as she tasted something acidic in the back of her throat. She ditched the towel she had been using to dry off freshly washed glasses and headed for the bathroom.

Alayne stumbled into a stall, thankful that they were full doors rather than those useless metal dividers most places used. She collapsed to the floor, a shock of pain shooting through her knees as they crashed into the stone. Alayne didn’t fully realize she was vomiting until it was over. _Shame, I made a really nice lunch today._ She stared at the partially-digested food floating in the toilet in front of her with a grimace. There was a thin layer of sweat on her skin and she shook as she flushed the toilet. She rested her cheek against the seat and took several deep breaths, closing her eyes. _Poor Margaery,_ she thought. _If she knew, she would never have said yes to any of this._ _This is punishment. The old gods are angry. This is punishment for Sansa’s silence, that I have to watch this._ No matter what, Alayne knew that she would have to get used to seeing Joffrey’s name and face plastered everywhere now that he was running for president. She would have to numb herself to whatever pity she felt for Margaery and move on, especially if Willas was going to bring him up casually in conversation. Alayne dragged herself up to her feet using the door as a prop. She couldn’t be gone for too long, and she had to look presentable before facing Willas again. She unlocked the stall and trudged over to the sink, silently thanking the Seven for giving her an empty restroom. Leaning over, she took several more deep breaths and looked at her reflection. Aside from the sweat and the dead look on her face, she wasn’t in too bad of shape. Her roots were freshly dyed, her hair a fairly uniform shade of dark brown, not a strand in sight of the fiery auburn Sansa had inherited from her mother.

Once she felt stable on her feet, she let go of the shiny stone countertop and turned on the faucet. She cupped her hands and filled them with water to wash the taste of bile from her mouth. She padded her face and neck with her damp hands, wiping away the sweat. Looking back up into the mirror, her reflection looked less dead and more exhausted. _It’s an improvement._ She slipped out of the bathroom and into the employee locker room. She had some mints stowed away in her bag. They’d cover up what the rinsing couldn’t get. Looking down at her watch, she guessed that she had been gone about six or seven minutes. She took a massive breath and jumped up and down to loosen herself up. She rolled her neck and silently prayed to the Seven that she could get through the rest of the afternoon without another incident.

Feeling detached, as though she were controlling her body by puppet strings, she strolled out and back to her station behind the bar as though nothing had happened. Some elderly man had taken a seat in the time she had been gone, and Alayne avoided making eye contact with Willas until she was done serving the new customer. As she handed the old man’s glass to him, she glanced over at Willas. He was flipping through the newspaper, probably to kill time until she came back. She wiped her hands on her pants and put on a smile as she walked over to him. “Sorry about that,” she started with a nervous laugh. “It’s a bit busier this afternoon.”

He looked up, his expression going from startled confusion to understanding as he nodded slowly. “It’s fine, Alayne. Unlike me, you’re at work right now.” He took a sip from his drink, and Alayne guessed that he was waiting for her to say something. Nothing came to mind, but the distant feeling must have started to show and he spoke up again. “Hey, Alayne, are you okay?” His voice sounded concerned, although she wasn’t present enough to really process or appreciate what connotations it could have.

It was Alayne’s turn to be startled and confused as she forced herself to be mentally present. It was a struggle to constantly hold on to reality. Every other thought was a reminder to pay attention to what was going on around her instead of mentally disappearing altogether. “Hm? Oh, I’m fine. I didn’t get to eat lunch.” _Well, it’s almost true_.

Willas, if he bought it, only gave her a look of pity in response. Alayne poured herself a new glass of water to fill the silence, and then did something she knew she would regret. “So, how well do you know Margaery’s fiancé?” She couldn’t believe that the words were coming out of her mouth, but deep down she was dying to know, even if she was unable to say the monster’s name aloud.

Willas winced and looked down into his half-finished glass. “Not as well as you might think, actually. They’ve been dating for three years, but I think I’ve met him only once or twice outside of public functions.” Alayne was taken aback, the look of shock a genuine one. “Margaery speaks highly of him, though,” he continued. She bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything. “I’m hoping that this engagement will give my family more excuses to see him. I’d like to actually know the man my sister is marrying before she marries him, you know?”

Alayne froze, like a deer in headlights. _No, I don’t know. I don’t want to know Joffrey fucking Baratheon, and neither should you._ The silence was approaching awkward, so she slowly shook her head. “No, I can’t really say I’ve been in that position before. You know, since I don’t exactly have any siblings.” Willas ducked his head a bit. “But I understand what you mean,” she finished hurriedly. “If Mya or Randa were getting engaged, I’d want to know the person.”

Willas didn’t respond, which left them at a lull in the conversation. Alayne wondered what he was thinking about as he stared blankly at the wall of bottles behind her. She needed to change the subject. Much more talk of Joffrey and she was afraid that she’d have to make another trip to the bathroom. She glanced down at her watch and realized what time it was. Looking back up, she screwed her face and crossed her arms. “Now I have to ask, what are you doing here in the middle of the afternoon? Don’t you have a company to run?” She lightened her tone, trying to lift the mood.

“I do actually have a company to run, thanks for the reminder. I have a meeting in about,” he paused to glance at the time, “half an hour not too far from here and figured I’d stop by. I probably won’t have another chance for a few days, and it had already been-"

“Twelve days. It’s been twelve days,” Alayne interjected. She reddened a shade at her rude interruption.

Willas looked like he was holding back a laugh. “Yes, it had already been twelve days. Anyway, now that this has gone public, my entire family has decided that they need to be here in the city to celebrate. Let’s just say that participation is mandatory on my part.” He shrugged.

Alayne frowned. She was at a loss as to why he would be unhappy to have a family reunion. “Why don’t you look happy? If I had a family like yours I’d love to spend every minute with them.”

Willas nearly choked on the swallow of whiskey in his mouth and Alayne instantly felt guilty for the comment. He laughed out loud this time as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I love my family dearly, don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to see everyone and I frequently make the trip out to Highgarden for that very reason. But like every family, if we’re in the same room for too long things can get messy.”

Her thoughts jumped immediately to Sansa’s relationship with Arya. A flash of guilt stung at Alayne’s heart as she thought of how divided the two had become towards the end. When Petyr had finally let her out to see the Vale, Mya was the first friend Alayne had made. The resemblance between her friend and Sansa’s sister were undeniable, especially when it came to being stubborn, and Alayne had long ago reconciled that the friendship wasn’t a coincidence. She wondered if she would get along as well with Arya nowadays as she did with Mya.

“What is it?” Willas asked.

Alayne shook her head, realizing that Willas was watching her daydream. She took a sip of her glass of water before answering. “I was just thinking of my… friend. There were other kids around, where I grew up. Those of us who stuck around long-term got to know each other pretty well, you know? One of the other girls was absolutely wild. Never a dull moment when she was around.” Alayne trailed off, her smile softening. "I’ve lost contact with them. After my father took me in, things just changed.” Petyr had always said that the best lies contain a grain of truth. Just enough to make the listener give pause, he said. She learned to twist Sansa’s childhood just enough for it to be believably Alayne’s and no one seemed to question it.

“That’s a shame, that you lost contact. Have you ever thought of tracking them down?” Willas asked. He gulped down the last of his whiskey.

Alayne paused. _I’ve thought about it a thousand times a day for eight years._ She frowned and shook her head slightly. “Not really. They wouldn’t be hard to find, but I’ve moved on. I’d rather leave the past in the past. I’ve got a new family,” she said, gesturing to the restaurant. Randa and Mya had filled that role wholeheartedly after Alayne left Petyr, as had the other employees here.

Letting go of his glass, he tucked the newspaper back into his coat and laid out the cash for his drink. “Well, I’ve got that meeting to get to.”

Alayne rocked back and forth, tapping the edge of the counter as he eased himself off of the stool and onto his feet. She winced as she watched his arm shake slightly from the pressure he must have been putting on the cane. Willas was wincing a bit, too. She snatched up the money and tucked it in her pocket to deal with later. "Good luck, I guess. I’ll see you around?” She didn’t have to fake the hopeful smile, or the flirtatious look in her eye.

“Absolutely,” Willas responded. “And I promise you won’t have to wait so long this time.”

Once he was out of sight, Alayne felt the weight of her shock come crashing back down on her. She was weak at the knees, and she could feel herself separating from her body again. Her stomach grumbled loudly, both in hunger and as a threat. She forced herself to keep working, but everything moved sluggishly, as though someone had slowed time.

An hour later, Shae came up with an order from the tables. “I’ve got an order for you,” she said, rattling off the requests as she read from her notepad. Alayne repeated the list of drinks to herself, desperately holding on to them in the forefront of her mind. “Alayne, are you feeling alright? You look like death itself.” Shae said with concern. She beckoned Alayne closer and then reached over the counter to feel her face. “You’re ice cold, darling, are you getting sick?"

Alayne swayed a bit as her face was felt up. She waved Shae’s hands away and inhaled sharply. “I’m fine, Shae. I’m just nauseous. I might’ve picked up whatever Mya had, but I’ll be fine."

“Well in that case I’m calling Jayde and she’s going to take your second shift tonight. You need to rest.” Alayne opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off. Shae already had her phone out and was texting the other bartender. “Don’t argue with me. If Chataya knew you were sick she’d have your head for working, you know that.”

Alayne nodded slowly. It was easier to let them believe she was sick than to even think about explaining the truth. Besides, Shae would argue until she dropped dead if it meant helping Alayne. “Alright, I’ll finish out this shift and then go home,” she said. Her voice was hollow, much like the rest of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: My editor and I had major wrist problems right after one another during the writing of this chapter. We're all good now, but it put us way behind on everything.


	5. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas is having some family problems. Alayne battles the nagging suspicion that her friends are right.

Alayne was surprised to see Willas walk into the bar the following Thursday night. If memory served, he was supposed to be at a family dinner. Although it wasn’t like she was keeping track of his schedule or anything. The surprise turned into concern when she saw how deep his frown was. She noticed that he had shaved off the well-maintained stubble of which she had become quite fond. Clearing her throat, she made her approach. “Skipping the family dinner, are we?” she joked, attempting to make him smile.

“If only,” he said. He slumped in his seat, resting his head in his hands. “More like I jumped ship halfway through. The usual, thanks.” He slid further down until the only thing between his forehead and the wooden counter was his fist.

Alayne froze for a few seconds while she debated how to approach this new development. She glanced over at the tables, shooting a panicked look to one of her coworkers. She wasn’t prepared to actually be an emotional support to this guy. Receiving only a shrug in return, she clenched her jaw and slowly exhaled. Without looking, she swiped a glass out of the bin and set it on the counter. Willas looked up at the sound of glass hitting wood.

Alayne forced a half-smile as she poured his glass. He mumbled a thanks as she capped the bottle and set it aside. Crossing her arms, she settled into one hip and tapped her fingers on her upper arm while he downed half the glass in one go. She turned her head, looking off into the distance while she prayed that he wasn’t about to get drunk in front of her. The restaurant had a zero-tolerance policy and the last thing she wanted to do was throw him out. Her gaze bounced around, from the tables to her feet, and then back to Willas. It didn’t look like he was making any moves to explain himself, so she decided to suck it up and try to do the nice thing by consoling him. “Do you want to explain yourself? I’m not going to watch you get drunk and be depressed. I’m your bartender. I’m supposed to be your pay-by-the-drink psychiatrist, right? Spill.” So much for nice.

This did finally bring a bit of a smile to his face. “We finally got everyone together tonight—myself, my parents, my siblings and their partners, which includes Joffrey. Oh, and my grandmother,” he sighed.

The first thought that occurred to Alayne upon hearing Joffrey’s name was that she needed to hold down the vomit, but none was there. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she focused on appearing sympathetic. She exhaled slowly and deeply. After the incident during his last visit, she had spent an hour muttering that bastard’s name until she could do it without feeling sick. It had worked, thankfully. She raised her brow and looked Willas in the eye. “And? Your family isn’t _that_  dysfunctional."

Willas’s jaw tightened. He took another sip of his drink and then cleared his throat. “Well, now that Marg is engaged my grandmother decided she’d begin to pick on me again about my love life. In front of everyone. Marg tried to intervene, but then Joffrey opened his mouth and it pushed me over the edge. He made some underhanded comment—I don’t remember what it was now—and I walked out."

_“Sansa, dear, why aren’t you eating?” Cersei asked._

_A chill ran down her spine at the cold stare she was receiving from Cersei. Sansa jerked her head up to make brief eye contact with the woman at the head of the table before returning her gaze to her plate. Stumbling, she forced herself to speak, glancing briefly across the table to Tyrion and then back to Cersei. “I- I’m worried about my brother. I’m worried about Bran,” she said quietly._

_Cersei pursed her lips. “Hm.” She paused. “Starving yourself won’t make him any better. Eat. And put a smile on, it’s your favorite tonight."_

_Sansa bowed her head, looking down at the cooling Meereenese food on her plate. Six months ago she would have scraped the dish clean in a heartbeat. The richly flavored food was now tasteless to her. Nevertheless, she speared a piece of fig and lemon chicken and put it in her mouth. Her jaw was heavy and she had barely chewed the meat before swallowing dryly. It hurt, but she didn’t wince._

_“How is he doing? Has there been any news from the doctors on his condition?” Tyrion asked gently._

_Sansa looked up, her empty gaze directly across the table to where he was sitting. She didn’t wither as much inside when Tyrion spoke to her. She cleared her throat and set down her fork. Her hands slipped under the table to wipe themselves on the napkin in her lap before clenching the sides of her seat. “In her last email, Mom said that the doctors were sure he would wake eventually.” She took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, due to the damage to his spine, he’ll never walk again. There’s nothing they can do, not even with surgery and physical therapy."_

_Sansa watched as Tyrion did his best to smile sympathetically. Of anyone at this table, besides Myrcella and Tommen, he was perhaps the least threatening and—dare she say—kindest person to her._

_“I say the idiot deserves what he gets. He probably wasn’t climbing with a harness,” Joffrey said, laughing as though Bran had simply scraped a knee._

_Sansa cringed, shrinking as far back into her seat as she could without Cersei calling her out for bad table manners. Tears threatened to well up, but she willed herself not to cry. She did not dare sniffle—that would give her away in an instant. Breathing slowly in and out of her mouth, she dug her nails into the underside of the chair._

_“Isn’t that right, Sansa?” Joffrey asked, turning to look directly at her._

_Without thinking, Sansa straightened up and quickly pulled her hands up to her lap. She wondered if her eyes were red from nearly crying. Clearing her throat, she smiled close-lipped and curled a strand of her red hair behind her ear. “Yes, he did like to take risks,” she said, nodding._

_Joffrey stared at Sansa for a moment, and she wondered if the smug look in his eye was because he knew she was on the verge of crying and liked that she hurt or if he was simply proud that he was correct yet again. When he finally looked back at his own plate, Sansa exhaled a slow and silent sigh of relief. She picked up her utensils and made another attempt at her food. She kept her head down, but briefly glanced up again at Tyrion. He was staring at her blankly, but she knew that he had seen everything. He always saw everything._

A physical pain developed in Alayne's chest. She bowed her head as guilt filled her for prying into Willas’s personal life. _Then again, he did come in here visibly moping._  She could cut herself some slack for that, she figured. She clicked her teeth to fill the silence after his speech and watched him take another sip from his glass. Curiosity began to eat at Alayne—there had to be a reason for him to be single after all this time. “So,” she began cautiously, “if you don’t mind me asking-"

“Why am I still single?” Willas asked, cutting her off. He chuckled and straightened up completely as he looked down at his nearly empty glass somberly. Alayne snapped her mouth shut and hummed positively. He took a deep breath and then looked up at her with a pained expression. “Honestly? The right person hadn’t come along yet.” He exhaled and laughed a bit at himself.

His words from Monday, which she had almost forgotten completely, came back to Alayne vividly. She could recreate in her mind’s eye the way he looked when he admitted he felt something between them. Her gut warmed pleasantly at the memory and her posture softened. She smiled faintly and looked at him. She watched as his expression relaxed as well and he met her gaze. Every second she stared into his golden-brown eyes, the warmth inside of her spread a little further through her body. “I understand,” she said quietly.

They were interrupted by Dancy obnoxiously clearing her throat and waving her notepad at the other end of the bar. Alayne started, glancing back and forth between her coworker and Willas as she reminded herself that she was at work. She walked over to Dancy, whose smirk was a bit too suggestive for Alayne’s comfort. “What’s up?"

“I need four glasses of the Lys white and you need to get a handle on yourself,” Dancy laughed. She leaned forward and continued in a whisper. “I was afraid you’d pe right across the counter and kiss the man if I hadn’t interrupted."

Alayne turned red at the prospect. She glared at Dancy, tilting her head and trying to look innocent. “You’re imagining things."

“Oh yeah? So then why are you all red?” Dancy stifled a giggle.

Alayne’s face heated even more as she protested. “I am not! It’s- it’s warm in here. Something must be wrong with the vent.”

Dancy rolled her eyes, ignoring the blatant lie, and shifted her weight and looked over at Willas. Alayne’s gaze followed, and she was relieved to see that he was staring off in the other direction “So, when do you think he’s going to ask you out?” Dancy asked.

Alayne whipped her head back in the direction of Dancy at the question, her eyes wide with disbelief and her jaw hanging open. “Never, don’t be stupid.”

Dancy collapsed into a fit of laughter as Alayne pulled away from the conversation and poured the wine. She stared Dancy down and slid the glasses over, receiving a giggle and a wink in response. She put the bottle of wine back into the fridge and then wiped the moisture off of her hands before returning to Willas.

“She seems to be in a good mood,” he said innocently.

Alayne rolled her eyes and waved a hand. She wasn’t about to put stock in anything the other girls said. They were a bunch of gossips, even if well-intentioned. “It’s nothing, she’s always like that,” she said.

Willas nodded slowly and then lifted his empty glass. “Am I allowed to have a refill? I promise I won’t get drunk.” He flashed a smile that was much more reminiscent of the Willas of Monday.

She grinned at him, trying not to laugh as she picked up the bottle and poured him a new round. There was something about the way he looked at her, mood lifted, that wondered how right Dancy actually had been. Alayne wondered if, were there not a counter between herself and Willas, she might act impulsively during one of those silent moments. The bigger mystery was if _he_  would do anything were the counter not there. The thought of what such an encounter would be like sent a new wave of tingling down to her hands making her palms itch. She bit her lower lip and gently rubbed her hands on her pants, willing for the impulses to leave as she watched him take a small sip from his refilled glass. He seemed oblivious to her stare, probably lost in his own thoughts like she just was.

Alayne opened her mouth to restart the conversation when Dancy and Marei caught her eye on the other side of the restaurant. They were huddled together, staring at Alayne, and were in all likelihood whispering gossip back and forth. Seconds later, Dancy stepped back and held out her hand, which Marei shook. Alayne pursed her lips at the sight of them. She had known the two long enough to know that the buzz of the phone in her pocket was the announcement of a bet in the group chat.

“They’re up to something, aren’t they?” Willas asked.

Alayne turned back to him to see that was also looking over at the two girls. It was best that he didn’t know how invested these other girls were starting to get in his visits. “Short answer? Yes.”

“Ah. Okay,” he answered and turned back around to face Alayne.

She shifted her weight back and forth, her eyes still fixed on him. She grimaced, frustrated that the comment she had prepared earlier now eluded her. In its place, she jumped on the first thing that came to mind. Renly Baratheon had just announced his candidacy yesterday, and happened to be married to none other than Loras Tyrell, according to Randa. “Your younger brother is married to Renly Baratheon, right? That must be fun, having not one but two presidential candidates in the family.”

Willas laughed nervously, wincing as he picked up his glass. “Ask me that again in a month,” he said.

Alayne tapped her fingers on the underside of the counter, thinking. The entire nation was going insane over how contentious this election would be. Three of the four parties now had candidates, the fourth due to be announced by the end of the week. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like for the Tyrell family over the next few months as loyalties split. Alayne pitied Willas and the publicity hell he’d be subjected to because of it all. “What if I never ask?"

“Hm?” Willas looked up, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

Alayne shrugged, looking at her hands as she interlaced her fingers. She opened her mouth to speak, but was quiet for a second as she looked up at him. “I mean, you’re a major representative of the family and its business. Given the situation, I figure it might be nice if, well, you got a break from it all when you’re around me,” she said, trailing off into a small smile.

A broad smile grew on Willas’s face and she could see how he lit up at her offer. “I’d like that,” he said quietly.

Alayne mimicked the smile unconsciously, and a warm glow filled her face at the way he was looking at her. The itching in her palms returned, and she wondered if contact with him would make it go away. Scratching them herself hadn’t seemed to solve it. Unfortunately, a large group entered the restaurant and seated themselves at the bar and prevented her from actually testing the theory. Alayne’s face flushed as she backed up a step and gestured to her new customers. “I should get back to work,” she said quietly.

Willas nodded, but she didn’t stay to wait for anything else. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms, and strode over to the new group. A professional smile on her face, she took their orders. They tried to engage her in some kind of mindless conversation, and she obliged with a friendly tone and a few laughs. When she had passed off the last of their drinks, she looked back over to where Willas had been to see an empty seat. He had left his payment on the counter, and a quick look at the door told her that he was already long gone. Her heart sank and the warmth in her face faded.

Alayne walked slowly over to where he had been seated and picked up the cash. There was a little scrap of paper beneath it with a note. “Keep the change — I’ll be back tomorrow!” it said, followed by a winking smiley face. The glow returned, softer this time, but it was there. She bit her lip and tried to keep from grinning too much. She slipped the note into her back pocket and went to put the money into the cash box, but not once did she ever feel her feet touch the ground.


	6. Inquiry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne comes to grips with her attraction. Willas takes a step forward.

Late Friday afternoons were Alayne’s favorite time to work. It was the calm before the storm. People were much less likely to swing by a bar for a drink on their way home if they were going to go out later that night. It gave Alayne plenty of time to putter around, wiping down glasses and reading the newspaper someone had left at their table that morning. After thoroughly reading the business section, she flipped to the massive spread on the election.

No surprise, political prodigy Aegon Targaryen had been nominated as the People’s Party candidate that morning. His running mate was the one she was interested in, though. Daenerys was a world-renowned human rights lawyer who had recently returned to Westeros to begin a career in politics. Petyr had kept close tabs on her work for some reason, and Alayne eventually adopted the habit. It was something about Daenerys’s determination to win even the most impossible battles if it meant making people’s lives better that struck Alayne as admirable.

Someone coughed quietly and Alayne jumped, looking up from the paper to see Willas sitting across from her. She exhaled, giving a half chuckle as she stood up straight and closed the paper. “Sorry, I was a bit invested in reading the interviews,” she said quietly, rubbing the paper’s ink off on a damp towel.

“I read a little snippet when I got to work this morning. So? What do you think now that all the cards are on the table?” he asked while he stripped off his suit jacket.

Alayne paused, taking a moment to appreciate watching him stretch and roll up his sleeves. She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and crossed her arms. She had sworn that less than twenty-four hours ago she had said they’d avoid politics so he’d have a respite. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about this? For your own sake, might I add?”

Willas bowed his head, smiling sheepishly. He drummed his fingers on the wooden countertop and sighed. “You’re right, we did say that. In that case,” he started, reaching over the counter to pluck the paper from in front of Alayne. He slid the paper down to the other end of the bar and then looked back at her. “We’ll just keep that out of the way.”

As the paper slid away, Alayne tensed just a bit as it neared the edge of the counter. If it fell she would have to go get it and then the conversation would be broken up and there wasn’t enough for her to distract herself with to deal with the awkward silence that would ensue. The paper halted several inches short of being in any danger and she breathed a small sigh of relief. Turning back to see Willas’s happy smile, she rolled her eyes and picked up one of the glasses she had just cleaned. “Anything to drink?"

“Just water,” he said.

Alayne nodded and turned away to get water from the tap, grabbing an extra glass for herself. She took a deep breath, quelling the nerves that were starting to build up in her stomach. She still had the note he had left her the night before. The little napkin had been carefully slipped into her back pocket and taken home. It wasn’t that she had doubted his promised return, it was that she was starting to wonder where these increasingly frequent visits would take them.

Turning back, she set down his water and took a long, slow sip from her own glass. A heavy silence filled the space between them, and Alayne’s entire body itched for something to do other than avoid staring at him. “So…” she began.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he blurted out. Clearing his throat, he spun his glass around slowly. “I know I wasn’t the happiest customer and I’m sorry. I probably should’ve gone home instead of coming here."

A small smile grew on Alayne’s face while he spoke and she took another sip of water to hide it. She gently set the glass down when he was done, careful to express herself as nonchalant in response. Shrugging, she said, “It’s no problem. You’re not the only customer who’s come in and complained to me.”

Willas’s laugh sounded just empty enough that Alayne away, silently kicking herself for being too dismissive. She had been shooting for easygoing, not uncaring. Looking back, she put on a weak smile and tried to set the record straight. “But you’re the only one whose problems I actually care about.”

She realized she had swung a bit far in the opposite direction and stiffened, wondering how he’d take the comment. They both paused, looking at each other with mildly stunned expressions. Randa walked up next to Willas and slid Alayne a written order from the tables. Alayne slowly reached out and picked up the folded piece of paper, forcing herself to break eye contact with Willas. Her eyes scanned the list and then the message at the bottom. _Stop staring and make a move, you’re making me feel awkward._ She looked back up to see her friend walking away. Clearing her throat, she crumpled the note and tossed it in the trash. “I gotta take care of this,” she mumbled and then hurried off to work.

When Randa returned to pick up the drinks, she gave Alayne a stern look before whisking the tray away to the tables. Slumping slightly, Alayne resigned herself to the fact that her friend was right. She took a deep breath and decided that _something_  had to happen soon and it might be up to her to make it so. Still, she hesitated as she made her approach to the curly-haired man who looked almost as jumpy as she was. Wringing her hands so that they wouldn’t visibly shake, she willed herself to open her mouth and say _anything_. She stuttered, the words getting caught in her throat as it slowly constricted. _When did I become a stumbling fool? I’ve never been at a loss for words. Come on. Do it!_  Taking another deep breath, she opened her mouth and forced words to come out. “I wanted to ask-"

“Will you go on a date with me?” Willas said, cutting her off mid-sentence. His gaze jumped from Alayne to his hands on the counter. The only sound was the shuffle of his clothing as he bounced one leg up and down rapidly, sending a small shudder through the wood of the bar to disturb the liquid in his glass.

Alayne’s heart had either stopped beating entirely, or it was going so fast that she couldn’t feel it. Heat spread quickly up her neck and into her face. She swallowed deeply, concerned whether or not the nausea was a good thing. “I- uh- well-“ she stumbled.

“Something small. Like coffee, or whatever you casually drink in this kind of summer heat,” he quipped nervously.

“Sure!” she finally said, her body still mostly frozen but a panicked smile on her face. She forced herself to nod and jerkily moved, unsure of what to do with her hands. She stuck her right hand behind her head, grabbing at her hair just enough to feel a tug, while the other went to her hip. The pulling sensation kept her grounded enough to at least think. “I mean, yes, I’d love to. I’m sorry, it’s been a while since someone’s asked me out,” she laughed nervously.

“It’s fine. I cut you off, didn’t I? You wanted to ask me something?” His face was glowing with interest as he leaned forward.

Alayne stiffened again as she scrambled to come up with the ending she had planned for that sentence. Bringing her hand down and folding her arms, she gathered herself and leaned against the counter in front of her. “I was just going to ask why you kept coming back to see me,” she said. “Because it’s clear that you’re not here for the food and you’ve consistently spoken to me and almost no one else, so I had to assume that there was some motivation for… this."

“Ah. Well, I guess I already answered that one, eh?” he joked. He slid back a bit, pulling his hands down into his lap. One hand came back up to grasp the empty glass and play with it.

“Yeah…” she responded quietly. The heat in her face intensified and hand creeped up to touch her cheek. It was on fire, and she could only assume that she was completely red in the face. The thought of being that flushed—of visibly reacting so strongly—only made her more embarrassed. She was acting like a fool and so unlike her normal, calm self. Her gaze drifted up from Willas and out to the tables where Randa was grinning mischievously, phone in her hand. Alayne’s back pocket buzzed. Not a few seconds later did the phone buzz again. And again. And again. Eyes slowly closing, Alayne prayed to the Seven that all of this would blow over quickly.

“Are you okay?” Willas asked, his brow furrowed with apparent concern.

This time, the words came more easily, even if her limbs were still stiff and unwieldy. “I’m fine,” she said, inhaling deeply and forcing herself to smile and loosen up. “I was just lost in thought.” She paused. “So, you wanted to get coffee?"

“Something like that,” he said, shifting in his seat. “I know a nice café over in Dragon’s Gate. We could go sometime this weekend?"

Alayne winced slightly at the proposal of going out in the next couple of days. The short notice didn’t bother her, it’s that her hours weren’t very conducive for doing very much on weekends. She inhaled through her teeth and rested her hands on the back of her hips. “Well, I have work from mid-afternoon onwards both days, so-"

“Morning, then? We could get a pastry or something?” He suggested.

His voice sounded eager and it made Alayne’s insides tingle that he was so intent on making it work. She nodded slowly. “Sunday morning, perhaps around ten?” she asked.

“Wonderful!” A wide grin was plastered across Willas’s facein a way that made Alayne question for a moment whether she was standing or falling. “Oh, I should give you my number,” he said quickly, digging his phone out of a pocket.

There was a ghost buzzing sensation from the several alerts she had received as she pulled it out of her pocket. She quickly cleared the notifications from the group chat. The last thing she wanted him to see was how much these girls gossiped. Opening up her contacts, she slid her phone over to him and picked up his to enter her number. Her thumb hesitated before typing it in. For a moment she wasn’t sure whether or not she was making the right decision in taking this next step in their relationship. There were so many possible ways that this could go and they were all complicated. Most of them involved a certain level of publicity that Alayne just wasn’t sure she was comfortable with. She didn’t like visibility. Nevertheless, she forced her thumb down onto the first number and the rest came quickly. _I won’t know until I try, and I can always back out. I’ve got nothing to lose here._  She saved the information and the screen went back to his list of contacts. He had it organized by last name and guilt tugged at Alayne as she saw Robb’s name a few lines above her own. She quickly set down the phone, snatching her own back up and holding it close.

Willas picked his phone back up and slid it into his pocket, apparently oblivious to her mild discomfort. Checking his watch, he gave a little sigh that sounded disheartened. Alayne glanced down at her phone to look at the time. It was nearly six. People were beginning to filter in for dinner. Willas shuffled and she looked back up to see him reluctantly picking up his coat from the next seat.

“I should get going. Another dinner with my family awaits me,” he said flatly, rolling his eyes.

Alayne hummed, arching her brow. Given what little she knew of the night before, she guessed that tonight was going to be intensely awkward, at least on his part. “Best of luck,” she muttered, picking up his glass to put it in a tray for washing.

“Hey, Alayne,” he called before she had made it more than a couple of steps.

The sound of him saying her name sent a spark through her system. It wasn’t the first time he had said it, but it was the first time she had noticed how wonderful it sounded when he did. She looked back over her shoulder at him, her body slowly following. A faint smile grew, the corners of her mouth twitching as the warmth crept up into her face again. “Yes, Willas?” another, smaller spark shocked her as she said his name.

“I-,” he paused, the silence bearing down oppressively as she waited with for him to say something. “See you on Sunday,” he said abruptly. He gave a short wave and then made his way out the door, the rhythmic tapping of his cane echoing in her head over the din of the restaurant.

Alayne vaguely registered her hand moving to wave in return. She floated on the small high of happiness. It had been a long time since she had genuinely been so elated. It coursed through her blood like a drug that she didn’t want to give up. Even so, a dark little voice popped up in the back of her head.  _It’s a shame he’ll never say your real na- No. Stop it._  She cut off the thoughts before they could go much further. The glow faded a bit, and a small weight in her chest pulled her back down to the ground.

“Oi, dreamy-face, you’ve got a lot of people looking for some alcohol to wash away their shitty week,” Randa said, pulling Alayne’s attention back to the present. Randa’s face was split wide in a smirk as she leaned over the bar to hand over a list of orders.

“Lucky them,” Alayne said sarcastically, her voice drawling as she plucked the paper from Randa’s hand.

“Also, thanks for winning me the bet,” Randa added.

Alayne raised a brow. She hadn’t looked at the group chat since the night before, determined to not let her squabbling friends dictate her feelings regarding Willas’s visit today. “How many of you were in on it?” she asked, tilting her head in mild concern.

Randa shrugged. “Oh, just all of us. It was a pretty even split. Shae and Marei were really stubborn about it. They were convinced that you’d chicken out and say no. But I know you better,” she said smugly. "I also would’ve never forgiven you if you hadn’t gone on at least one date with him.” Randa giggled almost obnoxiously and sauntered off, leaving Alayne to ponder the sincerity of the last comment.

She looked down at the list of drinks in her hand, thinking about how quickly the last half hour had gone. Shaking her head quickly, she pushed the swirling thoughts out before they could distract her any more. She was Alayne, and that’s who Willas was going on a date with. Randa was being dramatic. In a week it would all be over.


	7. Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne debates the implications of the relationship. Willas makes the decision very complicated.

_10:02. Shit, I’m late._

On any normal occasion, Alayne would show up at least five minutes early, sometimes ten if there were no travel delays. But this date wasn’t a normal occasion. Alayne had fussed over her appearance more than Mya or Randa had ever seen. They had eventually settled on a blue sundress that matched Alayne’s eyes matched with a pair of white, wedge-heeled sandals. Alayne had joked that it was a good thing Willas was also tall or she’d tower over him in them.

The walk to the café was fourteen blocks exactly. A walk like this usually took Alayne not more than twenty minutes between her long stride and fast pace. This walk had taken twenty-six minutes because she turned around and started going home. Twice. _It’s easier to break his heart now rather than later_ , was what she kept telling herself. Alayne was quickly realizing the long-term implications of this… relationship. It was either break up in order to protect her identity or come clean to him down the road. Both were going to hurt. Still, coffee wasn’t that much of a commitment. She could still back out.

_10:05. Shit, he’s late._

Alayne stood on the curbside, looking up and down the street for Willas. Looking back down at her phone, she re-opened the text she had received last night with the time and place, checking yet again to make sure she had gotten it right. She had. She didn’t want to go inside and order without him, but she also didn’t want to stand here for much longer. People would stare. She checked her phone again, heart sinking at the lack of a text from him. Perhaps she wasn’t going to have to break his heart after all. She shoved the phone back in her purse, knowing it was only making her more anxious.

Willas rounded the corner closest to her not a few seconds later and relief washed through her. He was leaning heavily on his cane and was moving slowly, and she realized she had forgotten that he couldn’t walk the way she did. She glanced out at the street, seeing gridlock traffic. Guilt crawled through her insides as he came to a halt a few feet away.

“I’m really sorry I’m late. I can’t even say it’s unusual for me,” he said, out of breath. He adjusted his weight on the cane as he gave an apologetic smile.

Alayne froze for a moment, trying to find the right way to say what she was thinking. The panic was plastered on her face as her mouth hung open in a half-wince, half-gape. “It’s okay. I, um, forgot that you…” she trailed off, glancing down at the cane as another wave of guilt arrived.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said hurriedly, the smile widening as he waved his hand. His voice sounded of genuine care despite the blasé body language. “In all fairness, I’ve been sitting every time we’ve met,” he added with a chuckle.

The guilt subsided just enough that the warm feeling in her gut could grow as he joked. She relaxed into a sheepish smile, pulling her arms up to cross them. The anxiety she had felt before was nothing compared to the hurricane of butterflies in her stomach now. She wasn’t quite sure what to do now that she wasn’t technically at work while talking to him. It was a struggle to not fidget with all of the nerves.

“Your dress is very nice,” he said, breaking the silence.

Alayne jerkily unfolded her arms, smoothing out the fabric as she looked down at her dress. “Thanks,” she started. Looking back up at him, she stretched her fingers and rocked back and forth. She needed something to say. “I made it myself, actually.”

“Really?” Willas looked her up and down, examining the dress before meeting her gaze again. His head cocked, he chuckled. “That’s really incredible.”

“I- um- yes. Thanks,” was all Alayne managed to get out before a rush of butterflies shut her up again.

They stood there, staring at each other in the street. Alayne wondered how long he planned on waiting until going inside. Although she knew no one was paying attention to them, it felt like every eye in King’s Landing was on her in that moment. As heat crept up her neck and threatened to color her entire face pink, he inhaled deeply, breaking eye contact and looking over at the café.

“You didn’t want to actually go in and get something, did you? You just wanted to stand here in the street,” he said, cracking a wide smile as he ran his hand through his hair.

Alayne went weak in the knees as he brought his hand down from his brown curls to rub his jaw. She rolled her eyesand reached up to brush a stray curl back behind her ear. “Yes, I came all this way to stand in the street with you,” she replied wryly.

Willas held out his hand, gesturing for her to take the lead as they went inside. Alayne made sure she was between him and the door so that she could open it. Considering his leg, she wasn’t going to make him work any harder than he already was. Glancing up, she saw him tilt his head, questioning why she was doing it. Alayne stiffened her posture and gripped the handle of the door even tighter as she nodded for him to go in. Willas acquiesced and she followed him into what she now believed to be the sweetest-smelling room in the entire city.

The café wasn’t very big, nor was it very crowded. Alayne wondered if it was one of those hidden-gem places that had a cultish following that kept the business alive. And for good reason, too. The air had smelled of sweet summer strawberries, fresh bread, and a hint of coffee. Willas wove his way through the pastel-colored tables up to the counter. Alayne followed closely, gently brushing her fingers against the cool metal of the chairs. The walls were covered in little watercolor paintings of every flower imaginable framed in antique-looking wood. The place was so perfect—like she was in a dream.

Alayne slowly came to a stop next to Willas at the counter, the sound of the staff greeting him by name pulling her out of her trance. She glanced down at the selection of treats behind the glass. She zeroed in on the perfectly stacked lemon bars. Her mouth watered and she looked up at her date as he made small talk with the elderly lady behind the pastry case. She slipped back into a daydream as she watched his jawline, which had regrown some of the stubble she loved. Her palms itched again and she wondered what it would feel like to caress his perfect face. When she realized she was staring, she quickly looked away, purposefully looking in the opposite direction of her date to feign admiration of the decor.

“Alayne?”

She jumped, turning back to look at Willas and the old lady. “Hm?” she responded, putting the most innocent half-smile on her face as humanly possible.

“I asked what you’d like to order,” he said. She could see how hard he was trying to not laugh by the way the corners of his mouth twitched up to match the amused tone of his voice.

She forced her gaze back up to his eyes, warmth creeping up her neck as her mind reeled to process what he was saying. Clearing her throat, she turned to the lady and pointed at the lemon bars. “One of these, please,” she said, her voice quiet but steady.

Her hands weren’t as steady, however, and they shook ever-so-slightly as she dug into her purse for her wallet. Just as her fingers closed around the leather, she heard the smack of a card on the counter. She looked up to find Willas’s hand pinning his card to the glass in front of him, his body angled to cut her off from attempting to pay. Her jaw tightening, she looked him in the eye and pursed her lips. He half-smiled, eyes asking if she could at least let him do this. Exhaling sharply, she turned back to the lady. “And a cup of black tea, thank you.”

Alayne shoved the wallet back down into the bottom of her purse indignantly, turning to again admire the café’s decoration. Arms crossed, she listened as he paid for the order. She should’ve been faster. The last thing she wanted was him thinking he could get away with being some generous benefactor and pay for everything. She wasn’t poor. Bartending for an upscale restaurant was good money.

A hand pressed gently on her mid-back, ushering her forward. She jumped at the touch and took a hurried step forward as she looked over her shoulder to Willas. Electric shocks spread through her skin from where his hand rested. The heat returned to her face as they briefly made eye contact. A faint smile graced his face as he guided her over to a table on the side wall. Her hand shot out and she clasped the back of one of the chairs, pulling it out for herself and sitting as he made his way to the other side of the table.

Once Willas was in his seat, cane resting in the corner between the wall and table, the awkward silence began.Alayne tucked her hands into her lap and squeezed her purse between her ankles. Looking everywhere except at her date, she wasn’t sure how to start the conversation. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and met his gaze. Sighing, she turned to face him. “You really didn’t have to-”

“I insist. It’s not a problem,” he said, chuckling at the end.

“I’m perfectly capable of paying for myself,” Alayne shot back. Exhaling softly through her nose and looking down at her hands in her lap, she leaned back in her seat. “I’m sorry,” she said in a gentler voice. "I just don’t want you paying for me because you think I’m some charity case.”

“No that’s-” Willas began. Alayne looked up to see him concerned. Borderline worried, perhaps. He reached out and placed a hand flat on her side of the table. Looking her dead in the eye, he continued. “That’s not what I meant by it. I’m sorry. I swear, Alayne, that’s not what I think or feel. I thought it was a nice gesture, but I never meant to insult you.”

It was quiet as they stared at each other for a few seconds. Willas slowly withdrew his hand and interlaced his fingers. She realized he had his sleeves rolled up to the elbow again, exposing his forearms. She made a mental note to admire them when he wasn’t able to see her staring.

“You’d think that with a table between us we’d be a little bit more comfortable,” he joked.

Alayne snickered, bringing a hand up to rest on her cheek. She shook her head slowly, looking out the front window at the street. “This is pretty weird.”

After a pause, Alayne looked back at Willas. This time he was staring at her, chin resting on palms and a faint smile on his lips. It gave the butterflies a new energy. Her face must have been bright pink by the way it burned, and yet she loved the way he looked at her. Biting her lower lip, she mimicked the faint smile as they sat in silence.

Alayne was fairly sure that had the lady from the counter not walked up with their tray of goodies, they would have continued to stare blissfully at each other for as long as time allowed. She would’ve happily sat there and soaked in every feature of his face. As enticing as his jawline was, his eyes were her favorite. They usually looked golden, like amber, in Chataya’s warm lighting. The daylight in the café gave them a darker hue, but they were still unlike any other eyes she had seen.

Breaking the silence, Willas looked up at the lady and thanked her, flashing a polite smile. He picked up his cup and then took a small sip.

Alayne went straight for her bar. Holding the fork in her hand, she shoved a piece from the corner in her mouth. The slightly sour tang of lemon was pine, and she relaxed into a slouch in her seat as she gave a small moan of happiness.

“Having fun?” Willas laughed.

Her hand shot up and covered her mouth as she realized what sound she had just made. Eyes wide, she forced herself to swallow the mouthful of sugary lemon and looked down at her plate. “Sorry, I really like lemon,” she said quietly.

Willas leaned forward in his seat, silently laughing. Alayne felt terrible. “No, it’s alright, Alayne. I’m just teasing. I’m glad you like it,” he said as he sighed out of the laugh. Alayne grabbed her teacup and took a sip, the hot drink burning its way down her throat. “Here, let’s change the subject. Tell me, how did you end up at Chataya’s?”

Alayne swallowed another gulp of steaming tea before setting the cup down. She could recover from this. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t all that embarrassing. It was simply the timing and the fact that she wasn’t her usual proper self in that one moment. She couldn’t rely on her required work professionalism, but she wasn’t comfortable being casual around him yet. The in-between was something she so rarely used, she wasn’t sure where it was. She could pull herself together.

Looking back up at him, she folded her hands in her lap. “Randa was desperate to get out of the Vale, so she dragged Mya and me along for the ride.” Willas chuckled. Pausing, Alayne took a bite of her lemon bar, wiped her mouth, and then continued. “I had bartending experience, but we were both originally hired as waitresses until Randa started bragging about me. Chataya caught wind of this, gave me a trial run, and then a full-time position so that her daughter—the bartender at the time—could move to part time and finish her business degree early.”

“What about you? Are you going to keep working there?” he asked.

Alayne frowned, unsure if she felt insulted or not. She was perfectly happy with her job, regardless of her future plans. It made good money. “What do you mean what about me?”

Willas’s face paled a shade in panic. He was probably concerned about insulting her, too. “No, I mean what’s your plan?” he corrected. “Is bartending the only thing you want to do?”

“Oh.” Alayne was silent for a moment as she thought, drinking her tea. It bothered her that he automatically assumed she must be working her way on to something bigger and better rather than stay where she’s content. “Well, the eventual goal is to run a boutique. I do a lot of sewing and I’d love to turn it into a full-time job.”

She glanced up at him, and saw that he was looking at her in that starstruck way again. She set down her cup and slid her hands under her thighs to keep herself from drumming her fingers.

“I think that’s great,” he said quietly.

Alayne shoved the last piece of her lemon bar into her mouth, her face warming as he continued to look at her. “Thanks,” she said.

The both went quiet, looking around to fill the silence. She was specifically holding off on asking him any personal questions herself. As enticing as he was and as much as she wanted to throw caution into the wind, some part of her was still holding out. She didn’t want to get too emotionally attached, for fear of what may come of a serious relationship. The silence began to weigh on her, and regardless of her reservations, she knew she would have to take some initiative. “I’ve been talking too much, tell me something about yourself."

Willas, finished with both his coffee and cinnamon roll, leaned back in his seat. “Me? Gods, I don’t know.”

Alayne pursed her lips, looking at him with a bored expression. “Please, Willas. Just because you’re a rich heir doesn’t mean you can’t relate to us regular people.”

She didn’t regret the amount of sass in her voice, and Willas seemed to like it, because the sly smile he now wore was almost better than the dreamy gaze he had before.

“You’re right,” he said. Sitting straight up in his seat, he rested his elbows on the edge of the table. “I spent nearly a year either bedridden or in intensive therapy and pretty much wheelchair-bound after the incident,” he started, gesturing to his leg. “It was right after I had gotten out of university, so I think you can imagine how restless twenty-two-year-old me was about the whole thing. My family bought mountains of books for me to read on every topic imaginable. My favorite, though, was a book on wood carving from Marg.”

“You’re not serious, are you?” Alayne interrupted, brow raised.

“I’m dead serious!” Willas replied, laying his palms flat on the table. “I swear, I read that book cover to cover and started to teach myself. It kept me from going insane while I healed. I am by no means artistic, but for some reason it just worked for me. Now, no one except my family knew this because I stopped after I started working, but it’s true.”

“That’s unbelievable,” Alayne whispered as she shook her head.

It went quiet again as they both stared off into the distance. Willas inhaled sharply and Alayne turned to see him looking down at his phone with a grimace. “Damn my family,” he whispered.

Alayne frowned with concern. She finished off her tea as he typed. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. He was clearly frustrated, shoving his phone into his pocket with more force than was necessary. “Well, no but yes. I skipped brunch with them to be here because how many family meals can one possibly sit through when your sister’s fiancé is that much of an asshole.”

Alayne did her best to not laugh at his insult to Joffrey, but she had to admit that it was kind of satisfying to hear. Part of her begged to know why Margaery was dating him if he’s such an asshole, but she knew better. And she also knew the answer. “And I assume your grandmother…”

“Is furious, yes,” Willas finished, running his hand through his hair. The frustration was replaced with a disheartened look. “I’m really sorry to cut the date short, but…”

She feigned a smile and waved him on. “I understand, Willas. It’s fine.” In truth, Alayne was crushed that he was being called away. They had finally gotten into a good rhythm, and now it was over. But she understood, more than he would ever know, how much pressure was put on him by his family.

Willas grabbed his cane and eased himself up out of the chair, wincing as he went. “I’ll stop by the restaurant as soon as I can,” he said. He paused, standing next to the table. “Alayne, I…” He sighed, raising his hand halfway before pulling it back and stuffing it in his pocket. “I’m really happy we got to do this,” he said quietly.

Alayne stood as well, the way he quietly said her name drawing her in. A warm, content feeling spread through her. “I am, too,” she said in an equally soft voice.

Willas nodded goodbye and then left, leaving her standing there. There was a pain in her chest as he rode away in a taxi. Signing, she snatched up her purse and left. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.


	8. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne gets fed up with people intruding on the relationship.

Alayne sat on one of the barstools, browsing the internet on her phone to kill time while the bar was empty. Over the last few days—since their date—Willas had texted her off and on. She knew he was busy running an entire branch of a massive corporation, but it wasn’t his schedule that bothered her. It was the fact that he was always the one to text first. She wanted to initiate the conversations, but something inside prevented her from actually doing it. Randa was convinced that she was denying her desire and trying to stop herself from getting too attached. Alayne knew better. She knew her desire was there. It burned in her gut like a bed of charcoals every time she saw him. There was something else, too. More than just physical attraction. But the doubt about their relationship kept her from getting attached enough to figure it out. Closing the internet, she was resolved to make that first move and see how it felt. She closed her eyes and inhaled, preparing something to say.

“You okay?” Willas asked.

Alayne nearly jumped out of her skin, looking with wide, panicked eyes over at him in the next seat. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. “Gods you scared me,” she said breathlessly.

“I’m sorry, you just looked so determined.” He chuckled, his smile wide enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes. “What were you thinking?”

“Nothing,” Alayne replied. She knew it sounded like the lie it was. She slid off of the stool and walked around the bar to the other side. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.” Her follow-up wasn’t much better. “Do you want anything?”

“My usual,” he said.

Alayne nodded and poured him a glass of whiskey, not saying anything. She felt the silence getting more and more awkward by the second with her reluctance to speak. If Willas was picking up on it, he wasn’t saying anything. Nor did his face seem to betray any concern. She sighed, clearing the thoughts from her mind and putting on a smile as she recalled the way they looked at each other on their date. “So, anything new and exciting happening this weekend?”

Willas mocked laughter, his face pained. “Unfortunately, yes.” Alayne raised a brow. “The fundraiser gala for Joffrey’s party is tomorrow night. And, since my family financially backs a lot of people in the party, I’m required to attend.”

Alayne pursed her lips, putting a hand on her waist. “It can’t be that bad, can it?” She flashed back to when she asked the same question about his family and immediately regretted her statement.

“Well, for one, I don’t like a lot of the people there.” He downed half of his whiskey in a single swallow. “I also hate these events in general. Everyone is all polite and pretending to be friendly when we all know it’s a bunch of lies.”

Alayne was taken aback by his negative attitude, blinking in surprise. Crossing her arms, she leaned against the counter. She wasn’t about to let him complain about this. “So, you’ll have a boring night. Your grandmother is going to do most of the work anyway. You get to just enjoy the fact that you’re one of the richest men in Westeros whose familial influence is second only to the Lannisters.”

Willas rolled his eyes, a smile returning to his face. He leaned forward, pointing at her. “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?”

Alayne shook her head, smirking. “No, because it’s kind of important."

“To be honest, I really don’t enjoy the suit either,” he said with a sigh, downing the other half of his drink. “I feel like a peacock in it. My siblings were always much better at presentation than I was.”

Alayne scoffed, shaking her head at his ridiculous excuses. “Please, Willas, you know as well as I do how attractive you look in those suits.”

The words were out before she could think about them, and while her gut told her to panic, she used the rush of energy to grab his glass and toss it into the dirty dishes bin. She returned, wiping her hands clean with a towel, to see a surprised look frozen on Willas’s face. “It’s true. Have you seen pictures of yourself in those things? Trust me, you’ll look great,” she said, defending her statement.

Willas slowly broke down laughing. “I can’t believe you just said that. Wow. I deserved that.”

Alayne nodded her head before giggling a little herself at the sudden rush of boldness. It was refreshing to be a bit snarky at him. She was more like herself when she was and she liked it.

Their fit of laughter was interrupted as Dancy approached, slapping a written order on the counter for Alayne before leaning on the polished wood to face Willas. “Well, back again I see?” She smirked. “You spend a lot of time here flirting with Alayne. You two should just get a room.” Dancy shot Alayne a devious look and then walked away, leaving the two in an awkward silence, both faces bright red.

“I’m sorry about that,” Alayne whispered, looking down at the counter.

“It’s fine,” Willas said flatly. He looked as uncomfortable as she was about being called out like that.

Alayne kicked herself for it, even though it wasn’t her fault. All of the interruptions and nosiness from her friends were starting to grate at her. It wasn’t any of their business. “I’ll talk to her later. And the others. They shouldn’t talk to you like that.” She was quiet for a moment. “I think you should go. The drink is on me, just get some sleep for your gala tomorrow night.”

Willas nodded and got up. He paused, mouth open as though he were going to say something, and they made eye contact. He shut his mouth and then waved goodbye.

Her heart sank as he went, the same pain from the end of their date returning to her chest. They had been cut off three times now, twice by his family. She didn’t blame him, but she was finally starting to feel comfortable. She actually _wanted_  to spend time with him now and she couldn’t. It occurred to her that she was going to have to make some moves herself if she wanted to see him in a less public setting.

* * *

“Are you fucking serious?” Randa screeched. She started to march towards the door, a scary mixture of anger and determination on her face. She had just heard about what Dancy had said the night before.

Alayne grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her back from the door. “It’s fine, Randa, honestly. I texted him afterwards and everything is fine.” She paused. “I also texted Dancy and told her to back off or I’d give her food poisoning, but that’s beside the point.”

Randa cracked an evil smile. “I’ve taught you well.”

Alayne rolled her eyes. Randa always took credit for things like that, but it had always been in Alayne. The same way it had been in Sansa. She would crush anyone under her heel if they wronged her. Well, almost anyone.

“Okay, but we can use this to our advantage,” Randa continued, jerking Alayne from her depressing reverie.

She cocked her head, but only made it a few degrees before Randa took her turn to drag Alayne across the room to the mirror. Standing behind the tall brunette, Randa tapped her chin in thought. “We need to make you sexier if we want Willas to make a move soon. There’s pressure now. People know you two are a thing, so he has to do something about it.”

Alayne rolled her eyes, groaning dramatically. She started to turn towards Randa. “You’re not giving me a makeover.”

“No, no, no, this isn’t a makeover, silly.” Randa waved, turning Alayne back to the mirror. “We just want to give him subtle signs. To hurry up the process."

Alayne winced. “Excuse me?"

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” Randa put her hands out, motioning for Alayne to stay put as she went into Alayne’s room. Alayne didn’t obey and followed a few steps behind. “Well,” Randa called out from Alayne’s closet. “You can probably start by wearing a lower-cut top to work. Or have an extra button undone."

Alayne threw her hands up, wondering why Randa was even trying this in the first place. “No, I’m not-”

“Please? For me?” Randa begged.

Sighing, Alayne didn’t know how much more of this she could take. “This is ridiculous,” Alayne muttered.

“I know, but you love it.” Randa scrunched her nose as she tossed a pile of shirts onto Alayne’s bed. “These should do. They’ll accentuate you nicely. You have a nice pair, you should show them off a bit at least when he’s around.” Randa gestured to Alayne’s chest.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Alayne crossed her arms to cover her chest. She was beginning to lose her patience. “Correction, this is stupid,” she said flatly.

“Okay, do you want to get laid or not?” Randa said, backing up and putting her hands on her hips.

Alayne gaped, her brows arched in disbelief. She stuttered, letting her arms fall back to her sides gracelessly. “You think that’s what this is about? I have genuine feelings for him, Randa. I’m not just trying to hop into bed with him. I don’t need you or Dancy or anyone else to help me. If I want something to happen, I’ll do it myself. You all keep intruding and it needs to stop!” She shook her head, waving her hand and walking out into the main room.

As Alayne walked out of her room, she saw Mya standing in the open front door, keys hanging from her hand as she watched. “Don’t ask," Alayne muttered as she sat down on the couch in a huff.

Mya looked down at her watch. “It’s, like, ten in the morning. How are you two already at each other’s throats?"

“I didn’t mean it like that. Oh hey, Mya,” Randa said as she exited Alayne’s room. Sitting across the couch, Randa reached out and grabbed Alayne’s wrist. “I want to help, Alayne. I know you and if you have things your way you’ll let him slip away before you properly make a move _because_  you like him.”

Alayne scowled, pulling her wrist away. This really wasn’t any of Randa’s concern, no matter how good her intentions were. She realized then that she had just referred to Willas and herself as being in a relationship. The point of no return she had been so worked up about before had now come and gone without her even realizing it. Turning back to Randa, she tried to put the issue to rest. “Look, if I want advice I’ll ask,” she said quietly. “Honestly, things are fine as long as you all stay out of it.”

Mya silently took a seat in the chair next to the couch and turned on the television to fill the silence. After a couple of minutes, she looked over at the two on the couch. “You two got the evening off so that we could watch the gala interviews, right?”

Alayne’s stomach turned as she realized Joffrey would be front and center for most of the night. She debated whether or not it was a good idea to eat dinner just in case she had a repeat of the newspaper incident. She looked over to Mya and nodded, forcing a smile.

Randa winked. “You know I did, hon."


	9. Entertainment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya does something wild. Alayne can't help but enjoy it.

"Bet you ten bucks the Stark girl doesn’t wear a dress.” Mya looked over at Randa, a sly look in her eye.

“Oh come on, you don’t even know she’ll be there,” Randa said dismissively. She waved her hand as she turned on the television.

Alayne stifled a laugh. Sansa knew Arya. There’s no way she would’ve gotten into a dress without a fight. A small pang of guilt shot through Alayne’s heart at the rush of memories of Arya screaming at their mother over dress codes. She missed the family quarrels. Arya wasn’t one for a spotlight, so it was difficult for Alayne to keep tabs on her.

“What’s so funny?” Randa asked, brow furrowed as she looked at Alayne.

Shifting, Alayne leaned back in her seat and hugged her knees to her chest. She looked back and forth between her two roommates. “Nothing,” she said quickly. “I was just thinking about Willas.”

“Yeah, I bet you can’t wait to see him in that fancy suit.” Mya reached over and snatched the remote from it’s spot next to Randa and punched in the channel for the gala. “Honestly, Randa, you turn on the TV and then forget to actually change the channel.”

“Shut up,” Randa shot back before turning back to Alayne. “It’s a shame he didn’t invite you as his date. I would trade all of the gold from Casterly Rock to see you in one of these amazing gowns.”

Alayne’s mouth tasted acidic at the mention of Casterly Rock. She swallowed deeply, pretending to have something caught in her throat as she shook her head. “Gods no. I’d rather take the money,” she joked. “Besides, I’ve been on one date with him. It would be weird if our second date was a fancy gala with all of his friends and family.”

Mya chuckled. “Yeah, you don’t want to let them know how weird you are until you’re sure he’s cool with it.”

Alayne rolled her eyes, tossing a pillow across the room at Mya.

“Date and family aside, I think you’d look stunning in one of the gowns,” Randa began. “You’ve got just enough chest and ass that you’d fill it out nicely and you’re tall. You could wear something really long and slinky and show off your legs.” She grinned, prodding Alayne’s knee with her foot.

“Whatever you say,” Alayne replied, turning her attention to the screen as the program started.

Alayne hated the first few minutes of these shows. They were always filled with commentators from celebrity news outlets talking about all of the gossip everyone already knew rather than actually getting to the interviews. Randa was the diehard fan of these things. Mya was just along for the ride. Alayne was somewhere in the middle. She loved the dresses, and had tried to recreate some variations of a few. That’s why she had a notebook and pencil tucked in her lap.

“Finally, we get to the good stuff,” Randa groaned at the television once they cut to the actual event.

Alayne pulled out her phone, looking for any texts from Willas. She wondered if he even has his phone on him tonight.

“Ha! You owe me, Mya!” Randa shouted. Alayne jumped and looked up at her roommates.

“What?” Mya was in shock, jaw dropped. “That’s impossible.”

It was not, in fact, impossible. Alayne watched with surprise as Arya Stark climbed out of a vehicle alongside Myrcella Baratheon wearing a long black and red dress. Not only that, but it was actually a really flattering dress, with a long slit up the leg. _This had to be Cella’s doing._  Arya was known for always wearing something unconventional to the few public functions she attended. Even Alayne knew that. Unconventional outfits for an unconventional heiress as the media liked to say. Nevertheless, she picked up her notebook, flipped to an empty page, and began sketching an abstract version of the dress for later brainstorming. She had seen a similar shade of red fabric in the store last week and was determined to make use of this inspiration.

“Pay up,” Randa said, shoving her hand under Mya’s nose.

With a groan, Mya slumped back in her seat. “I’ve been betrayed," she muttered. “Arya’s given in to the pressures by fashion to present herself in a feminine and sexual manner for the public. This is a tragedy."

Alayne snickered. Looking at Sansa’s little sister in a slinky dress standing next to Myrcella Baratheon is a sight Alayne never thought she’d see. Turning to Mya, she made an effort to distract the poor girl from her overly-dramatic heartbreak. “You still want to hike Massey’s Hook tomorrow morning, right?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Mya replied as she sat back up in her seat. “And you’re climbing the last bit with me this time. I won’t let you wimp out again.”

“Only if you promise I won’t fall to my death,” Alayne said with a wry smile. My had been begging her to go hiking with her for weeks, and Massey’s Hook wasn’t for the faint of heart. The hike itself was scenic, but the outcrop at the very end was only accessible by a proper climb on the bare rock. It was Mya’s favorite of the harbor trails, even if it freaked Alayne out.

“There he is!” Randa gasped, grabbing Alayne by the wrist as she pointed at the TV. “Mm, you really scored with this one.”

Alayne watched as Willas pulled himself out of a car, followed by his grandmother, the infamous Olenna Tyrell. The woman was ancient, but refused to pass along the title of CEO to anyone else. No one was quite as intimidating as she was. Sansa had met the woman once, a long time ago and only briefly, when she was forced to tag along with Eddard to a business meeting.

_“Sansa, dear, I have one quick meeting to attend before we meet everyone for dinner. Would you mind tagging along while I get this taken care of?” Eddard said, crouched in front of the eight-year-old Sansa outside of the Tyrell National building in Highgarden._

_“No, papa,” Sansa said quietly, clutching her bag from their shopping trip that day. Every time the family went on vacation, Eddard would buy Sansa some pretty trinket from the destination as a souvenir. This time, it was a colored glass rose and she was allowed to hold the bag as long as she promised to be careful and never set it down._

_Eddard kissed the top of Sansa’s head and then took her hand, leading her inside. The entrance to the building was made of marble arches, leading up to the impossibly high ceiling. The entire place was decorated with green and gold, the company’s colors._

_The elevator ride was long and quiet. The longest ride Sansa was used to was the ten floors to get to Eddard’s office in Winterfell. Whoever he was meeting today was on the thirty-third floor. A thirty-third floor didn’t even exist in Winterfell._

_When the doors opened, Sansa was met with the sight of a large waiting room. A young woman behind a desk looked up and smiled._

_“You must be Mr. Stark. Mrs. Tyrell is waiting for you,” the woman said._

_As if on cue, the large door to the left of the desk swung open and an old woman with a stern face revealed herself. “Eddard, I’m so glad you could squeeze me in._ _”_

_“Not a problem, Olenna,” Eddard replied with a smile. He turned to look at Sansa. “As I’m sure you guessed, this is my daughter, Sansa. We were just finishing our day in the city when you called. I hope you don’t mind._ _”_

_“Not at all,” Olenna replied. Her voice was friendly, but the thin smile didn’t make Sansa feel incredibly welcomed. “She can wait out here with my assistant. This will only take a few minutes."_

Olenna led the way through the crowd, brushing past the media as though they weren’t there. She looked like a queen in her gown—and might as well have been given the reverence with which she was treated. Mace followed closely behind her, smiling and nodding politely to everyone. It was Willas who lagged behind and answered a few of the media’s questions. Alayne had the sneaking suspicion it was on his grandmother’s orders.

“I want to be her when I’m old,” Mya said. “Nobody fucks with Olenna Tyrell.”

Alayne nodded in agreement. Olenna always had the final say. There were so many rumors flying around about people whose businesses tanked after they tried to weasel her out of money in a deal. Alayne’s favorite rumor was that she completely divested Tyrell National from the Dornish plum industry because one of the local business owners looked at her funny.

“I can’t believe you’re dating her grandson,” Randa added absent-mindedly.

Alayne hummed in agreement. It was, quite frankly, mind-boggling that the degree of separation between Alayne Stone and Olenna Tyrell was now only one. “Neither can I,” she muttered. “It’s crazy when you think about it.”

Pulling out her phone, Alayne checked for texts from Willas. Still nothing.

Alayne’s mouth turned acidic again as Joffrey Baratheon climbed out of the next vehicle with Margaery Tyrell at his side. He looked so smug and snotty, but every single member of the media went berserk as he linked arms with Margaery. All cameras were on him and his fiancée as they made their way down the line, politely answering one question after another.

“She’s a goddess,” Randa whispered. “Honestly, I don’t know how she does it. Whoever designed her dress deserves an award for making the most gorgeous woman alive look even better.”

Alayne had to admit, the green chiffon dress was to die for. It wasn’t overkill and fit her perfectly. She looked like one of the grand paintings of the Maiden in a sept, except with a lower neckline. Alayne attempted to distract herself by sketching the gown, shading and all, so that she wouldn’t have to look at Joffrey’s ugly face.

“Mr. Baratheon! Mr. Baratheon!” Joffrey had finally made it down the line to the people from this network. “How will your fiancée’s career in public relations affect your campaign?” the reporter asked.

Alayne swallowed back the bile that was creeping up her throat as she pressed her pencil harder on the notebook.

“I know how to present the best of him, and hide the worse,” Margaery responded.

“She certainly does,” Joffrey added. Alayne grit her teeth. “I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful, talented woman beside me for this. I made the right choice. I’m lucky I broke up with my shitty college girlfriend when I did or I never would have met Margaery. Then where would I be?” Alayne’s head was light, her stomach certainly wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and she didn’t remember when she had looked up from her drawing to stare emptily at the screen.

“Ooh, that’s low, even for him,” Randa said.

“You take that back you son of a bitch!” Arya screeched as she hiked up her skirt and walked up from behind the couple. Joffrey turned around, the joking smile on his face as he was met with a sucker punch to the face by the short Stark. The crowd went wild. “Talk like that about my sister again and I’ll beat your ass!” Arya screamed as the security pulled her away to be collected by Myrcella.

Mya was the first one to break the silence. “I think I’m in love?”

Alayne turned to look at the other two. Randa was slowly sinking into the couch, tears running down her face as she laughed so hard it was silent. Mya was covering her gaping mouth with a hand, staring wide-eyed at the chaos on the screen. Alayne was too in shock to laugh, but the amusement was there.

“Did I honestly just see that with my own two eyes?” Randa asked, wheezing as she tried to breathe.

Alayne nodded slowly. She, too, was finding it hard to come up with words. She released her legs, letting her feet slide to the floor as she shook her head. “I think I need to pee,” she said, shaking her head as she rushed to the bathroom.

Alayne didn’t actually need to pee, she just wanted a moment alone after that disaster on television. She shut the door and leaned against the sink, clutching the corners. _Oh my god, Arya, you’ve crossed a line._  Alayne leaned forward, her head resting against the cool mirror. _They’re never going to let you within twenty feet of him ever again._ Even though Alayne knew how stupid it was, she couldn’t help but enjoy the satisfaction of watching the scumbag get decked on national television by her—Sansa’s—sister. Even if Arya would never know, Alayne was just a little bit thankful that even after all this time and the presumption of death the girl would still do something stupid if it meant defending Sansa from that prick. A faint smile grew on her lips.  _Thank you, Arya. Thank you._ Deep down, Alayne wished that she could say it in person.

“Alayne, hurry up!” Randa shouted from the other room.

Alayne pulled back from the mirror, inhaling quickly as she tried to fake having gone to the bathroom. She slammed the flush lever on the toilet and then ran her hands under some water. “On my way!” she shouted back. Mya had apparently gotten up to get popcorn while Alayne was gone.

“This night is turning out to be more exciting than I thought,” Mya said as she held out the popcorn for Alayne.

Waving her hand, she turned down the offer and sat back down. “Well, I think you’re out of luck after this. Everyone relevant has already shown up. Who do we have left?” Alayne turned to Randa.

“Uh, Stannis Baratheon and maybe the President,” she said, not looking away from the TV. “But neither of them are really all that interesting to look at."

“Wow, Alayne, you forgot the fucking President,” Mya accused in a sarcastic voice.

Alayne scoffed, pulling out her phone again.

“Just text him, dummy,” Randa said without missing a beat. “He’s busy being important. You should remind him that you’re here instead of there with him.”

Ignoring her, Alayne opened up the conversation with Willas and tried to think of something to say other than hi. Nothing clever came to mind. Sighing, she typed: The suit looked good. Promise me you’ll try to have a good time _._ She shut the screen off and set the phone down. Not thirty seconds later, it vibrated and she picked it back up.

_Promise_ was his reply, followed by a heart. Alayne’s eyes widened and her face warmed. Biting her lip to suppress the grin, she closed the phone again and hugged her knees tight. For once, Randa didn’t comment.


	10. Rewind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas retells the events of the night before. Alayne takes a bold step.

Randa hopped off her perch on an empty barstool as Willas walked through the front door of Chataya’s. “Go get ‘em girl.” She winked before sauntering off to the tables. “I’ll be back for the order in a few,” she called back.

A goofy smile faded from Alayne’s face. She turned to look at Willas as he sat down well away from the other customers at the bar. “Hey,” she said, walking up with a glass and his usual bottle.

“You know what happened last night, right?” he asked, barely containing the grin on his face.

Alayne nodded slowly. “Yes, I saw it on live television. Joffrey Baratheon got sucker punched by Arya Stark. It was a moment to go down in history,” she said, trying to not sound too enthusiastic.

“I wish you could’ve seen it in person. None of us realized what was happening. No one except the press was paying attention to what he was saying and then Arya just screams at him. I mean, I know the girl and I know she’s strong, but I did not see that coming.” Willas laughed with disbelief and took a sip of his whiskey.

“Mhm.” Alayne crossed her arms, looking down at her feet.

Setting his glass down, Willas continued. “I mean, the fact that she didn’t even hesitate astounds me. She’s tiny and he’s not, and yet she floored him. I was sure they were going to kick her out, but Myrcella bargained with the security to let her stay. I don’t know how much of it got on air.”

Alayne shifted her stance, an amused smile growing. Watching him regale the events brought a tingle to her gut. It was as though it had been the most mind-boggling thing he had ever seen. Although, Alayne did have to admit seeing one’s brother-in-law presidential candidate get socked in the jaw on TV doesn’t happen every day. Clearing her throat, she prodded for some more information. “So, why was Arya there in the first place? None of the other Starks were.”

“Hm? Oh, she was Myrcella’s date. They’ve been friends for a few years now, I think?” Willas shrugged and took another drink. “I think it’s nice. They’re an odd pair, to say the least. All that aside, it was nice to see that prick get hit.”

Alayne raised a brow. “Oh?”

Willas nodded, spinning his glass on the counter. “I’ve been cornered into a couple of one-on-one conversations. I respect him, but he’s a bit...” He paused. Alayne thought of a million words to fill the silence, none of which were appropriate to say. “He was obnoxious. It was just something about the way he carried himself, I think,” Willas finished.

She inhaled slowly, a warmth growing in her chest as she heard him call Joffrey obnoxious. It must have shown on her face, because Randa chose that exact moment to make her way back over. Alayne realized she hadn’t prepared the order yet. Excusing herself, she pulled the three cocktails together and set them on a tray for Randa.

“You know how smitten you look right now, right?” Randa asked.

Alayne’s face went hot with a blush at the thought. “No, I just think it’s cute that he’s so animated about everything,” she said weakly, glancing in his direction.

“You’re smitten, hon. You’re also a chicken if you can’t admit that you’re head over heels for him. I can see it in your eyes.” Randa smirked, pointing with her index and middle finger at Alayne’s eyes.

Alayne stuck her tongue out at Randa, crinkling her nose in the fake mockery. “Go deliver your drinks, you’re keeping customers waiting,” she said, shooing her friend off.

Before returning to Willas, she made a round to her other customers replacing drinks and collecting payments. Leaning on the counter, she pushed a bit more on Arya. “She doesn’t make a lot of appearances—Arya, that is. Do you know her very well?” Alayne asked.

Willas cocked his head as he tried to answer. “Sort of? I’ve met her several times over the years, but I wouldn’t say we’re close friends or anything. Why do you ask?”

The hairs on the back of Alayne’s neck stood on end. By the look he was giving her, she knew that she was veering into dangerous waters. Prying too much about her family would raise red flags. “Just curious,” she said nonchalantly as she shrugged. “She seems like an interesting person. More so than most people in your social circle, I’d imagine.”

If Willas wasn’t buying it, she couldn’t tell. He chuckled, nodding at her comment. “Right you are,” he said quietly. He stared at her as he took a drink. She didn’t know his expressions all that well, but the look he gave was akin to that of someone trying to solve a puzzle.

They were both silent for several seconds. An icy chill ran up Alayne’s spine as she kicked herself for how overt she had just been about her interest in Arya. She had just gotten so carried away and wanted to know something— _anything_ —about her sister. No, gods, it was Sansa’s sister. Alayne doesn’t have siblings. She was doing that more and more lately—calling Sansa’s family her own. Clearing her throat to break the pause, she changed the topic. “So, do you have any plans for Tuesday night?” she asked. She attempted to sound casual, although whether or not she succeeded was another matter entirely.

“Are you asking me out on a date, Alayne?” The surprise in his voice almost sounded mocking.

He was messing with her. She knew it by the smile he was trying to hide behind his glass as he casually took another swig of the golden-brown alcohol. Come to think of it, it kind of matched his eyes in this light.

Inhaling sharply to pull herself from the edge of the slippery slope of his dreamy gaze, she shrugged, looking out the front window absent-mindedly. “I guess. I have Tuesday nights off, so I’d be available to get dinner.” She looked back at him to gauge his reaction.

A wide grin split across his face as she proposed dinner. His eyes lit up as he responded. “Yeah, I’d love to!” He leaned forward, elbows on the bar. “Did you have someplace in mind?”

Alayne’s eyes widened with mild panic as he enthusiastically accepted. She glanced quickly over at Randa, who was lurking at the edge of the tables watching. She gave a wink to Alayne before returning to work. Alayne returned her focus to Willas, trying to come up with something quickly before he offered up some expensive place. She raised a hand, rubbing the back of her neck as she scrambled for the first place she could think of. “I was thinking,” she started. She needed somewhere that wasn’t a total dump. “There’s this really great hole-in-the-wall restaurant a few streets over. It’s cheap, and cozy.”

“Sounds great,” he said, his voice softening. “I can’t wait.”

He started to look at her in that certain way again and the heat crawled up her neck once more. Thankfully, before she got too red in the face, a customer from the other end of the bar called her for another drink. It took no small amount of willpower for Alayne to break away from Willas and do her job. She was starting to worry that him coming here so often would be bad for her. She wasn’t as on top of things when he was here. Chataya would notice soon if she didn’t solve it.

Still, she couldn’t help but smile as she poured the customer’s drink. Each step felt as though she were walking on a cloud. She and Willas were going on second date and she couldn’t wait.


	11. Chemistry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne battles her desire to make a move. Willas makes the decision for her.

Summer was almost over, and the cool evening breezes were beginning to set in to herald the coming of autumn. Alayne tugged the thin, gray t-shirt free from the back of her jeans, smoothing it out. She slipped on a jacket and did one final check in the mirror. The place was hole-in-the-wall, so she told him casual even though it’d be a miracle if he wasn’t at least wearing a sport coat. She knew his type.

Throwing her head forward, she combed her fingers through her hair from the back to air everything out. It was always up while she was at work, and braided on their last date. Thank the gods she had recently re-dyed her roots. 

Taking a deep breath, she collected her purse and opened the bedroom door. Mya was sitting in the main room, eating take-out from across the street.

“You look cute,” Mya said with a full mouth, craning her neck to see Alayne. “Don’t be home too late.”

Alayne rolled her eyes at the comment. She collected her keys from the bowl next to the front door. “Just for you, I’ll stay out past midnight,” she said dryly before shutting the front door behind her.

Biting her lip with anticipation, Alayne skipped down the stairs. There was a light airiness in her chest. As much as she hated to admit it, Randa could read her like a book. Alayne was so head over heels for Willas it was nauseating to really think about. Even Shae had commented that she lit up like never before every time he walked into the restaurant. And, if they were lucky, he wouldn’t be called away again and they’d actually get some relative privacy.

The evening air was a cool reprieve from the summer heat they had endured for the last few months. Taking a deep breath, Alayne tried to ignore the smoky stench of the city. All these years and it still got to her sometimes. Exhaling sharply, she began her four-block walk to Old Gate.

Alayne came to a stop in front of the restaurant. The smell wafting from inside of the building was sharp with spice. Mya got take-out from this place a lot, too. Come to think of it, she probably knew the menus and hours of every restaurant in a ten-block radius of their apartment.

“I’m not late this time,” Willas joked as he stepped up next to her, facing the restaurant.

Alayne looked at him, a content smile forming on her lips as she watched him. As though she knew he was looking at her, he turned to meet her gaze. He wore the same smile she did. She lingered a moment, enjoying the warmth that spread through her, before breaking eye contact. “I hope you like dragon peppers because I’ve personally tried everything on the menu and it’s in all of it,” she said.

“You forget I’m good friends with the Martells,” He started towards the door. Holding it open, he winked at her. “I should be able to manage.”

Alayne silently chuckled at him before entering the building. Waving her hand for him to follow, she led them to a table in the corner. To the casual observer, the place looked run-down and grimy in some places. But the tables were always clean and the food was always good. Picking a bent menu out of the holder on their table, Willas took a look around the room.

“You meant hole-in-the-wall literally, didn’t you?” he asked jokingly. He stroked his jaw as he read through the menu.

Alayne set her elbows on the table and rested her chin on one palm, watching him think. She knew what she wanted. “Mya found it last year. She’s in here at least once a week.”

Willas glanced up at her before putting away the menu. “That’s a lot of peppers,” he quipped with a grin.

Alayne bit her lip as she smiled. He always knew what to say and she loved it. She looked back up at him, the airy feeling in her chest now competing with a tug in her gut. It was a tug that wanted her to reach across the table, grab him by the collar, and press his mouth to hers. “I can go order for us,” she said, standing up. Best not dwell on the desire for too long.

He rattled off his order and she relayed it to the man behind the counter. She rocked back and forth as he wrote everything down. For a split second, she considered paying for it here and now while he couldn’t stop her. As satisfying as it would be to prove a point, that wasn’t why she was here. And that wasn’t the tone she wanted to set for their evening.

Sliding back into her chair, Alayne was resolved to get him talking about himself first this time. She had spent an hour earlier that day coming up with things she wanted to know about him. Their texts were always filled with idle chatter, never anything of value. Clearing her throat, she shifted to cross her arms, elbows on the table. “Do you own anything other than expensive button-downs?” she asked, gesturing to his definitely-not-casual shirt.

Willas laughed, probably not realizing that it was a serious question. “Yes, I do. I know you said casual, but I couldn’t help it,” he said.

Alayne gave an exaggerated nod. She didn’t want to poke fun at him too much. Taking on a more serious tone, she posed another question. “So, what is the Reach like?”

“You’ve never been there?” Willas asked, sounding surprised.

Alayne shook her head. Sansa had visited the Reach on vacation with her family. Alayne had never seen the place except in pictures. “No, I really never left the Vale. I was a ward of the state, remember? And my father wasn’t a fan of vacations.” She paused, and then asked again. “So, what’s it like?”

Willas leaned back in his chair, sighing. “It’s absolutely stunning. The countryside is just mile after mile of farmland. Rolling hills and plains. The air is eternally sweet.”

Alayne sunk into her position a little, relaxing in the daydream.The last bit was probably an exaggeration, but anything smelled sweet compared to this grimy city. “It sounds wonderful. What about Highgarden? Or Oldtown?”

“I love Oldtown more than any other city in the world,” he admitted. "Most of my mother’s family lives there, and the city itself is so incredibly beautiful.” He launched into a detailed description of the city’s architecture.

She was enthralled by his words, watching with no small amount of adoration as his eyes lit up during his speech. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to picture the places he spoke of. She wanted to go there. Or rather, she wanted to go there _with him._  She opened her eyes as stopped to clear his throat. 

“Highgarden is lovely, too, but it’s much, much smaller. We’d barely count as a city if it weren’t for my family’s buildings.” He stopped as the man from the counter brought out their food.

Alayne pulled a few napkins out of their container and spread one on her lap. Propriety had its place, even in here. Picking up her fork, she gestured to his plate. “Go on, see how it compares,” she said before digging into her own meal.

Willas took a bite, paused, and nodded in approval. Swallowing the spicy food, he cleared his throat. “This is amazing,” he said before silencing himself with another mouthful.

Smiling to herself, Alayne continued to eat in silence. She enjoyed the burn of the spices. About halfway through her meal, she took a break to pick up the conversation again. “So what is being a mini-CEO like? What do you do all day?” she asked.

There was an awkward silence as Willas finished chewing. Spinning his fork idly, he thought before answering. “I’m in a lot of meetings, quite frankly,” he started. “I jump between here and the main branch in Highgarden a lot to coordinate. I make executive decisions on local business deals in lieu of my grandmother. Nothing special.”

Alayne nodded slowly. She knew he was glossing over a lot of the details. She continued to pick at her food in the silence that followed. She had expected more from that question that she could build off of. But now, it would just seem like uncomfortable prying.

“When do you plan on opening your boutique?” Willas asked, probably also feeling a bit uncomfortable with the sudden break in conversation.

She was touched that he had remembered the conversation from their last date. It made her warm and tingly inside to know that he was genuinely listening to her. Pushing away her mostly empty plate, she leaned back in her chair. “I’m a few months away from having enough money to launch the business,” she started. “But there’s so many logistical hurdles for me between finding other designers and getting my own line set up that it could be another year before I start looking for a physical space."

Willas nodded, finishing the last of his food. “I can’t wait to see it,” he said softly.

It took a moment for Alayne to realize what he meant. A jolt of anxiety shot through her body as she nervously laughed and thanked him. The implications of what he just said were staggering, but he certainly didn’t know that. The question was if he ever would understand.

They chatted idly for another half hour before Willas began to stand to pay the bill. Alayne jumped up as well, wad of cash at the ready. He glanced down at her money-stuffed hand and chuckled. “You aren’t going to let me pay, are you?”

Alayne shook her head, scrunching her nose in a half-smirk. “Not a chance,” she said.

Willas sighed and led the way up to the counter. A few minutes later, they exited the little restaurant to be met with a warm summer breeze.

“Can I walk you home?” Willas asked, his voice cracking slightly as he got the words out.

She shoved her hands into her pockets, the tug in her gut returning with more strength at his proposition. He was probably just as nervous as she was right now. She nodded to his leg. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I’ll be fine. Today has been a pretty good day for it.” Willas rocked back a bit, looking down at his leg for a moment before returning to Alayne.

Gesturing jerkily in the direction of her street, she took a step. “Lucky for you, I’m only a few blocks away.”

“You mean unlucky for me,” he corrected in what Alayne took to be a flirtatious tone.

She led him down the street, making sure to slow her usually quick pace. Exhaling slowly, she enjoyed the comfortable silence. As much as she wanted for him to pull her aside, press her up against the brick siding and kiss her until she was dizzy, the peaceful quiet was also nice. It made her realize how long it had been since she was so comfortable with someone—let alone a date—that wasn’t Mya, Randa, or Shae. It was something about his gentleness that made her heart skip a beat. He never seemed to want more than what she was willing to give, and even then the way he looked at her made her believe he’d give her anything for nothing in return. Either that, or she was too smitten to think straight and had it all wrong.

His hand bumped against hers. At first, she thought it was an accident. But after the second time, she realized he was doing it on purpose. She hesitated, but then stretched her fingers a bit to brush his in return. He took the invitation and curled his fingers around hers to take her hand. Neither of them looked at each other as they continued walking.

About a block away from her street, Alayne spoke up. “You know, we were incredibly lucky to get the apartment we’re in.”

“Really? Why?” Willas asked.

She wondered if he genuinely didn’t know how difficult it was to find a place to live in this city, or if he was just interested. “When we first got here, jobless except for Mya, all we could afford is a dump on the other side of the hill. Once Randa and I got hired, Chataya was nice enough to give us some pay in advance so that we could make the deposit for this place in a nicer part of town and close to the restaurant.” The woman really was a sweetheart, and probably couldn’t bear the thought of her employees having to go home to Flea Bottom in the middle of the night.

“Ah,” was his only response.

Alayne slowed to a stop as they reached her building. Turning to him and gently pulling her hand from his grasp, she cleared her throat. “This would be where I live,” she said, not exactly sure what to do now that they were there. “I’ll just…” she started, going up the steps to the front door. She dug for her keys as he followed her.

“Thanks for the date,” he said as they stood on the little stoop.

She turned to face him, her heart racing as she realized how close he was. She let go of the keys and let them drop back into her purse. The tug in her gut wanted to pull her towards him. He wore the adoring expression that made her knees weak. Just in case, she locked her legs straight so that they wouldn’t give out. The street lamps lit his face perfectly and the gold in his eyes shone in the soft yellow light.

He must have taken her slightly parted lips as an invitation, because he leaned in and planted a firm kiss on her lips. His hand snuck around the back of her neck, pulling her in closer. He tasted of olive and peppers and something else that was addictive. The tug she had felt before spread to her whole body as she leaned into him, hands on his chest, returning the kiss with a bit more ferocity than was perhaps necessary. After several seconds, they pulled away from each other, both panting slightly. She glanced between his lips and his eyes, silently debating if she should go in for more. Every nerve ending in her body tingled with desire.

Had she not hesitated, Alayne might have gotten her wish. Willas smiled gently, his eyes warm and inviting, and slowly retracted his hand. Bringing it up, he combed his fingers through his hair as he took a step back.

“Goodnight, Alayne,” he said quietly before making his way back down the steps, leaving her in the post-kiss delirium. She could see the small bounce in his walk as he strolled off and around the corner.

Alayne stood at her front door, dazed from the seemingly magical moment they had just shared. Biting her lip, she pressed a palm against her forehead and sighed. She needed a moment to let all of the feelings wash over her. Letting the hand drop, she pulled out her keys and went inside. She barely noticed the two-flight climb to the apartment, nor did she acknowledge her roommates curled up together on the couch as she slipped into her room. Leaning against the closed door for a moment before kicking off her shoes and leaping into bed, she drifted through the bliss, willfully ignoring how life-changing this might become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU'RE WELCOME NIAMH


	12. Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne is over-reacting. Willas presses onward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed to give y'all a break before I drop some bombs next chapter...

When she wasn’t actively working, Alayne spent much of the last three days pacing uncontrollably. The morning after the date—the morning after the _kiss_ —Randa had confronted Alayne about it. The giddy smile and twinkle in Alayne’s eye was all her friend had needed to start celebrating. At the time, Alayne was more than happy to join in the excitement. But now, three days later, reality had set back in.

The kiss had sealed the deal on two things for Alayne. The first: Willas liked her. The second: she was in real trouble. Knowing that _Willas fucking Tyrell_  had a thing for her was enough to make her heart stop every time she thought about it, never mind the fact that she had an equally as strong thing for him in return. It was one thing to casually flirt with someone, it was another to actually date them. Flirting didn’t get one shoved unwillingly into the spotlight.

Whether she liked it or not, it was safe to say that Willas and Alayne were dating. Even if not yet in name, they were dating. She knew that she was over-thinking everything, and it was probably only going to last for a month or so until he moved on to a different girl in some other bar across town. Or at least that’s what she was telling herself to make it through the day without having a panic attack.

Taking a deep breath, she resolved to put it behind her for the rest of the shift. It was late on a Friday evening and the bar was packed. There was work to be done. Opening her eyes, Alayne scanned the cluster of customers she was attending. Their glasses were full and no one was paying attention to her. As her gaze reached the end of the bar, her heart stopped. Just beyond, walking in through the door, was Willas.

 _Shit._  Her body tensed with panic, freezing up her limbs until adrenaline got them moving again, albeit shakily. She swallowed through her clenched throat and closed the gap between her and where he was taking a seat.

“You’re busy tonight,” he said with a grin.

“Yeah, Friday nights are usually like this,” she said hurriedly. Any slower and she feared her voice might quiver with the nerves. She paused, collecting herself. She cleared her throat and straightened her posture. There was no use in looking like a nervous wreck, even if she felt like one. She glanced from him to the customers scattered throughout the restaurant.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

She turned back to look at him. His brow was deeply creased in a frown. She hoped it was a concerned one. Exhaling deeply, she placed her palms gently on the counter as she collected her words. “Willas, I don’t think you should come by the bar anymore.”

Now it was his turn to look panicked. His frown vanished and was replaced by a wide-eyed look of surprise. He leaned back in his seat, inhaling. “Can I ask why? Was it something I did?” he asked quietly.

Alayne’s blood went cold at his question. She realized that he had taken her request as an “I don’t want to see you at all” rather than an “I don’t want to see you _here_.” Shifting her hands so that they clenched the edge of the counter until her knuckles went white, she did her best to amend her statement. “No, Willas, it’s nothing that you did. I liked what you did. I just think that, now that we’ve been on a couple of dates, it might be time to move on from this… pattern.”

“Ah.”

She wasn’t sure if he was buying it. Letting go of the counter, she tapped her fingers rhythmically to burn off the nervous energy growing inside of her. Looking down at her hands, she pressed on. “What I’m saying, is that I want to see you in a less formal setting. When we’re here, I’m at work. I have things to do and I don’t get to actually spend time with you and talk to you. And I want to do those things. Plus, my friends and occasionally my boss can see everything we do here. I don’t know about you, but that’s a little bit awkward now that we’ve, you know…”

“Kissed?” He finished with a chuckle. His expression had softened into a faint smile while she wasn’t looking. Alayne nodded, now watching him closely. “I understand what you mean, and I agree. Actually, the only reason I came here is to ask when you’d be free for another date.”

Alayne let out a silent sigh of relief. A smile curled the corners of her mouth as he proposed another date. “We could do Tuesdays.”

“Right, because you actually have a schedule to keep,” he said. It almost sounded like self-mockery, but Alayne couldn’t be sure.

“But not this next Tuesday,” she added. “I already have plans with Randa for the day. But the following week works.” It was a lie, but she needed more time to figure out what in seven hells she was doing and three days just wasn’t enough for her to properly over-think everything more than she already had.

Willas’s smile widened as he noted the date down in his phone. Slipping it back into his coat pocket, he slid off of the stool. “In that case, farewell and I shall text you.” With a wink, he turned on his heels and exited the building.

Alayne let out a huge sigh of relief when he was outside. Turning around, she leaned against the counter and took a couple of deep breaths. She would ignore the consequences of what she just did for a little while. A customer raised their glass to flag her and she snapped to attention. Her one real relief was that the other girls wouldn’t be watching her and Willas like hawks anymore.


	13. Distress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne's in emotional crisis. Randa says some hard truths.

The apartment was silent save Alayne’s quiet, even breathing. She sat on the couch, knees to her chest, and stared into the darkness of the room. The sun had set nearly an hour ago, but she didn’t have the will to get up and turn on the light. Or rather, she wasn’t sure if she could make her body do it, regardless of will.

The door to the apartment swung open. “Ugh, Alayne, you need to lock the door when you leave,” Randa muttered under her breath as the door slammed shut and she dropped her things to the ground with a thud. The lights flicked on and Randa yelped with surprise to see Alayne sitting on the couch, as still and silent as before.

“Why are you sitting in the dark? I know that it’s quiet with Mya gone for the week but there’s no need to be creepy about it,” Randa joked. There was a little laugh in her voice as she shuffled around behind Alayne. There was a silent pause. “Alayne, can you hear me?”

Alayne could hear her, and she knew that she was being spoken to, but she just didn’t want to answer. Her mouth didn’t work.

“Are you dead?” Randa asked, sounding a bit more nervous this time as she crossed the room and came around to face Alayne. Squatting down, Randa tilted her head and looked directly at Alayne. “Hey, dummy, you’re doing it again. You need to come back. You know it’s not good for you to leave like this.” Randa reached out and took hold of Alayne’s hand.

The contact gave the spark of life back into Alayne, and she jerked back into reality. She inhaled sharply, turning to return Randa’s gaze. Before Alayne could stop it, the tears began to well up in her eyes. She pulled her hand back, covering her mouth as she shut her eyes, letting the tears fall.

“Honey, what is it? It’s been ages since I’ve seen you like this. Did something happen?” Randa moved to the seat next to Alayne on the couch. She let Alayne cry for a minute or two before pressing onwards. “Was it something Willas did? If he hurt you, I swear to the Seven that they’ll never find the body.”

Alayne stifled a laugh between sobs. She shook her head, not yet able to summon the words necessary.

“You stay right here, and I’ll be back.” Randa got up and went back to the kitchen. Alayne could hear her filling the teapot with water. As the water boils, Randa moved around, probably putting away more of whatever she had brought home. The teapot clicks, and not a minute later she sets a mug, the tea bag’s tag dangling over the side, on the table next to Alayne.

“Look, I’m sorry that I’ve been annoying lately and I get that I need to back off and give you and Willas the privacy you need, but something is clearly up and it’s got to be related to him. I know you too well, Alayne.” Randa paused. “Let me help you,” she finished quietly as she sat back down.

Alayne inhaled, her nose stuffy from crying. Randa pulled a tissue from seemingly thin air and held it out. Taking it, Alayne blew her nose and slumped back, relaxing her grip on her knees. Letting her head roll gracelessly as she turned to look at Randa, frowned. “You’re right, it is Willas. I’m head over heels in love with him.”

“Yeah, we all knew that. What’s _bothering_  you?” Randa pressed onward.

Alayne gaped for a second, shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“You’re a big, fat liar, Alayne. Do you want me to tell you for you? Because I think I have an inkling as to what’s had you all jumpy for the last week.” Randa crossed her arms, her jaw set. She was serious.

Alayne went quiet again, looking off into the distance. She could feel herself slipping again. It was peaceful, to just leave and not deal with any of the ugly truths that she faced.

“It’s Sansa, isn’t it?” Randa asked quietly, the gentleness returning to her voice. “You’re afraid he’s going to find out about her.”

Alayne winced at the name. She rubbed her eyes, groaning quietly. She hated hearing that name. She had worked so hard to separate herself and move on, but Willas just kept bringing her back. “You know I hate it when you use that name,” she grumbled.

Randa reached out, grabbing one of Alayne’s wrists and pulling it away from her face. “But am I wrong?” She asked, looking Alayne dead in the eye.

Clenching her jaw, Alayne returning a steely gaze. She wrenched her hand out of Randa’s grasp and tucked it away in crossed arms. She wasn’t going to answer.

“You can’t go on like this and you know that. One day you’re going to have to stop running.” Randa’s voice was unusually gentle, despite Alayne’s unwelcoming behavior.

Standing up forcefully, a scowl twisting her face, Alayne made for her room. “I can go on however I like,” she said as she rounded the coffee table. There was a bite to her voice.

“Alayne,” Randa started. No response, just more walking. “Alayne!” she called again. Still nothing. “Sansa Stark you’re going to listen to me!” Randa shouted.

Alayne whipped around, her fists clenched. Her nails were digging painfully into her palms. “I told you to never use that fucking name!” she screamed. Tears were creeping their way back into her eyes. She forcefully stretched out her fingers, trying to keep a handle on herself. Her entire body was tense.

“I’ll call you whatever fucking name I like!” Randa screamed back. “You’re acting like a child, Sansa, and it needs to stop! Grow up and accept that you’re just being a fucking coward by living like this.”

Alayne froze in shock at Randa’s words. Her heart was racing and all she wanted to do in that moment was scream and cry and punch a wall. She knew Randa was right, at least on some level. But she wouldn’t admit it. “I’m not a coward,” she replied quietly.

The sudden drop in volume must have snapped Randa back into her more sympathetic tone. She got up from the couch and approached Alayne. “I know you went through a lot, but you have to admit that living your entire life in hiding is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, think about it.”

Alayne rolled her eyes, pursing her lips. “It’s not an overreaction.”

“Yes it is!” Randa shot back, almost laughing her way through the words. “You’re willfully ignoring a happy, loving family that wants you back more than anything simply because one prick made your life suck. Tell me that’s not ridiculous.” Alayne didn’t respond. Randa grabbed her by the wrist again and sat the two of them back down on the couch. “Okay, look. You’re not going to like what I have to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. And you’re required to listen, alright?”

Alayne nodded. “Fine,” she said flatly.

Clearing her throat, Randa began. “You’re being a fucking idiot for hiding this long.” Alayne gaped. “Hey, listen to me. You know I’m right. You’ve told us everything that happened and, to be quite honest, you’re a coward. You’re not scared of Joffrey, you’re scared of yourself. I can never imagine what it was like for you eight years ago, but that slimy bastard Petyr played with your head and you know it. You’ve come so far in the four years I’ve known you, especially since we moved here. But you’ve regressed these last few weeks. You’re always on edge and you’re obsessing over nothing.”

“It’s not nothing to me, Randa,” Alayne interrupted. “I’ve worked so hard for eight years to put the past behind me and I don’t want to put it all to waste.”

“Who says it has to be wasted? Just because you might eventually return to the Stark name doesn’t mean you have to forego everything you’ve learned and become while Alayne. You’re being such a dummy,” Randa laughed. “Besides, you don’t have to decide now. See how it goes. If it feels wrong, you can always break up with him. It’s not the end of the world.”

Alayne sighed. Randa was making sense, but the fatalist in Alayne still wasn’t satisfied. “And if it doesn’t feel wrong?” she asked.

“Then you’re going to have to suck it up and make a choice,” Randa said matter-of-factly. “Maybe it’s time you started thinking seriously about who you are and what you actually want."


	14. Impulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas makes a scarily true remark. Alayne finally listens to her desire.

_ETA 5 minutes_. Alayne shut her phone screen off and set the device down. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes as Randa tugged at her hair.

“I’ll be done in just- hand me a pin- just a sec,” Randa said.

Alayne lifted a pin up for her friend to take and stab into the up-do. “You know I could’ve done this myself, right?” she asked with a laugh.

“But it’s more fun when I do it,” she said, voice empty from concentration on her work. There was a pause, and then she stepped back and met Alayne’s gaze in the mirror. “Ta-da! All done.”

“Just in time.” Alayne got up from the seat and collected her phone and her purse. “I have my phone, I have my wallet, I have my keys. Is there anything else I need?” she asked as she walked out into the main room of the apartment.

“Your brain?” Mya asked from the kitchen.

Alayne chuckled. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be useless anyway,” she said. Looking down at her phone, she noted the time. He was probably just arriving downstairs now.

“You’ll be fine, just get out of here already.” Randa exited the bathroom and joined Mya in the kitchen to cook dinner.

“Okay, okay, I’m gone.” Alayne patted herself down as she again checked to make sure nothing was horrifically out of place. Her phone buzzed, and she was out the door a second later. Before she exited the building, she smoothed out the flowing black fabric of her cocktail dress. Thank the gods for lint rollers or Willas might have known it’d been almost a year since she had worn this.

Opening the door, she skipped down the steps and to the taxi waiting at the curb. Willas opened the door, ushering her into the back seat, and then took his own seat beside her. He rapped the glass between them and the driver, setting them off on their way. There was a moment of silence as Willas leaned back and settled in for the ride.

Alayne became aware of how close of quarters the backseat of the vehicle was. Her face heated a bit as she thought back to the last time they were so close. The tug inside of her then was just as strong now. She clamped her knees together and looked down into her lap. “So, do I get to know where we’re going?” Alayne asked.

Looking over at her, Willas smiled softly. “To dinner. I hope you like live music.”

Alayne watched him silently for a moment, brow creased with concern. “Yes, but that wasn’t my question. I really don’t like surprises, Willas.” She sighed frustratedly. "Just tell me where we’re going.”

“It’s not really a surprise. I made reservations at a restaurant and it has live music and a romantic-ish mood according to Marg. I’m notkidnapping you,” he laughed. 

The hairs on the back of Alayne’s neck stood at his joke as she looked back to her hands in her lap. She swallowed the lump that had formed in the throat, but it only became a pit in her stomach. Willas reached over and took Alayne’s had, interlacing his fingers with hers. “I’m just joking. I promise it’ll be a nice night.”

Alayne forced a smile, but she kicked herself for giving him a hard time and making him feel guilty. She cleared her throat and decided to change the topic. “It’s nice to see you, though. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy lately, I just…” She wasn’t sure how to say that she was really scared to see him because she really liked him but wasn’t sure if she was emotionally ready for what the relationship might involve, which she couldn’t actually tell him about without things getting very complicated. No, there was no way to say that.

“Hey,” he said, drawing her attention back to the moment. “It’s nice to see you, too.” He leaned over and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. The spot where he made contact tingled for a bit afterwards. The sensation slowly spread through her as she settled into the moment.

The taxi dropped them off in front of the restaurant. There were no windows, but light and music came from the open door. A variety of horns and a piano let loose an upbeat tune that had Alayne bouncing even as they walked in. Willas spoke briefly with the young man at the entrance, and they were led deep into the sea of tables. Seated right next to the dance floor, they had a virtually front row seat to the musicians.

Almost immediately a waiter appeared next to the table, offering each of them water and handing out menus. He rattled off the specials and then hurried off, leaving Alayne and Willas to their decision-making.

Alayne flipped open her menu and glanced through her choices. She glanced at the price and decided that she wouldn’t argue when Willas paid the bill later. Picking out a dish, she set the menu aside and leaned back in her seat, watching the musicians as they danced around on stage to their own music. A small smile curled the corners of her mouth at their liveliness.

Willas didn’t interrupt her reverie, but the waiter did. Clearing his throat, the young man looked down expectantly at Alayne.

She scrambled for the menu, handing it over to him and dictating her order. Her gaze then dropped to Willas, who was watching her with what she wanted to call an adoring gaze. A red flush crawled up her neck and onto her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, half serious. She knew why. She’d look the same way at him if he weren’t paying attention.

“Because you look wonderful. Especially when you’re off in your own little world, enjoying things. It’s the only time you actually look like you’re at ease,” he said.

The last comment made Alayne’s stomach turn just a bit, but the flushness of her cheeks outweighed the paling from her nerves. She leaned forward, putting her hands out on the table as an invitation for him to hold them. “You’re too nice,” was about all she could come up with. The way he looked at her made her chest glow with bliss.

“No, the nice thing would be to ask one’s date to dance,” he said as he stood up. He took one of her hands and guided her up out of her seat. He held up a finger. “Before you ask, my leg is fine as long as we slow dance.”

Alayne snapped her jaw shut, beaten to her question. She realized then how _hot_  he was in his button-down and vest. They were perfectly tailored for him and yet all she wanted to do was tear them off and get to what he had underneath. It occurred to her that he probably did a lot of upper-body work on a daily basis to accommodate his leg. His trim waist was no accident.

Her lustful gaze was cut off as he pulled her into a close hold. The hand he wasn’t holding had nowhere to rest except that sweet spot between his chest and shoulder. It was such a shame there was fabric between her hand and his skin. His hand slipped down to rest on her waist, guiding her in their slow dance. His hand seemed to fit perfectly into the curve of her side and she _wanted_  him.

“You’re thinking about something, aren’t you?” he asked.

She looked him in the eye, their faces only inches apart. Gods how she loved those sweet, golden eyes. Randa’s words from the week before came rushing back. _What do I actually want?_  “I was just thinking about something Randa told me a few days ago,” she said.

“Hm?”

The low hum of his voice reverberated through her and she had to stop herself from getting ideas so quickly. Softening her voice into a more flirtatious tone, she replied. “Oh, just something about what I want out of this.”

Willas pulled her a hair closer. “And what _do_ you want out of this?” There was a flirtatious twinkle in his eye.

 _I want him_. She shifted the hand on her chest over so that she could grab the edge of his vest and pull him forward, closing the last couple of inches between them. “You,” she said before kissing him deeply. A little moan escaped him, again a low hum that made the blood in her veins hot with desire. A few seconds later, they pulled back to breathe. There was a moment of silence as they recovered, and then both broke into smiles. Alayne bit her lip, looking away for fear of laughing.

“Didn’t see that one coming. Gods, you’re so hard to read,” he said with a small laugh.

Alayne looked back at him, brow creased, head cocked, and thoroughly confused. “I”m sorry?”

“You’re just so good at hiding what you’re thinking. Honestly you could lie to my face and I wouldn’t know it,” he said.

Alayne’s stomach dropped like a stone. The magic of the moment was gone in a flash and she defaulted to a neutral expression as the glow left her face. She wasn’t sure how to respond to him. There was no way he could be saying this with some kind of meaning. He was being too genuine and, for lack of a better word, naïve.

He must have noticed her shock, because he brought his hand up from her waist and gently took hold of her chin to bring her focus back to him. “Hey, I’m just joking. I don’t mind not knowing everything, Alayne. It’s our third date, I’m not supposed to know everything about you.” There was a pause, and a warmth began to return to her chest. “Just, promise me that eventually I get to know everything, okay?”

Alayne didn’t have a good response. It was too much to process in a single moment. All she knew was that he must be unconditionally in love with her and that was okay for now. She let a smile return to her face and she leaned in to kiss him again as an answer. His hand curled back around her neck to cradle her head as they enjoyed their brief moment of public intimacy.

The song ended and the band started shuffling off the stage to go on break as they broke contact. Willas led Alayne back to their table, his hand resting on the small of her back. When she sat down, the lack of contact felt like starvation and she itched to be close to him again. She almost dreaded being back in a taxi, wondering if they’d become that couple that can’t keep their hands off each other. No, she’d show her restraint. After all, it was only the third date.


	15. Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne forgot to tell Willas she was sick. Randa comes up with a solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beware, much fluff ahead

“Mya, I feel awful.” Alayne lay on the couch, hugging her knees as she stared emptily at the television. The bin from the bathroom was sitting on the floor in front of her, almost overflowing with used tissues from the last three days. “What if I’m dying? What will I do?”

“If you’re dead, you won’t have to do anything,” Mya answered dryly. Alayne only responded with a groan. “Are you having the soup again for dinner, or do you think your throat can handle real people food?” she asked as she flipped through one of the four cookbooks they owned.

Alayne groaned again, following it up with a loud blow of the nose. Another used tissue was added to the over-filled trash bin.

Randa walked around the couch and picked up the bin for emptying. “This is disgusting,” she muttered. “Thank the gods you’re not contagious.”

“Shame, I was planning on taking one of you with me when I die,” Alayne grumbled. Her sinuses were completely blocked to the point that her ears itched and she could barely open her eyes.

Randa walked back into the room, stopping to look over Mya’s shoulder at the book. She leaned down and tapped the page. “Ooh, I like that. We’ve got the chicken in the freezer we need to use.”

Alayne lifted her head just enough to look over at the pair. Frowning, she propped herself up on her elbow to watch them. “You aren’t making the honey chicken recipe, are you?” she asked.

“No, it’s something else,” Mya said absent-mindedly as she stood up and walked back to the kitchen. Cupboards opened and closed as Randa sat where Mya had just been.

“How long has it been since you took your medication?” Randa asked, glancing at her phone for the time. “It’s almost four now.”

“Uh…” Alayne flopped back down onto the couch. The impact of her head with the soft plush rattled her blocked sinuses painfully. “When did I fall asleep this morning?”

Randa frowned comically as she thought, looking again at the time. “Probably around nine? You were definitely asleep when Mya got back, and that was nine-thirty.”

Alayne sighed rolling onto her stomach and reaching forward to pluck the bottle of pills from the coffee table. Randa stood up, grabbing the empty water glass to refill it for her sick roommate. Alayne popped one of the little white pills into her mouth and then pushed her way up to a sitting position, still buried under a mound of blankets. Randa returned with the water and handed it over. Alayne’s phone buzzed with a text notification. She picked it up and groaned again.

“Honestly, Alayne, is that the only sound you can make?” Mya called from the kitchen. Popping her head out, she turned to Randa. “We’re missing carrots. I’m gonna run to the store on the corner and then I’ll start making dinner.”

“Sounds good, hon,” Randa said, waving Mya out the door. She took a seat next to Alayne and looked over her shoulder at the text. “You did tell him you were sick, right?”

Alayne sank into her seat, nose scrunched in disgust at herself. “No.”

“How?! You’ve been couch-ridden for four bloody days!” Randa half-screeched as she smacked Alayne’s shoulder.

Alayne withdrew, leaning away and ending up lying down again on the side of the couch unoccupied by Randa. “It never came up. We just text about meaningless crap. You know, stupid stuff we see.”

Alayne looked over to see Randa typing furiously on her phone. Her jaw was set in a way that made Alayne nervous. She knew that look. Randa was up to something, and it was usually not good. “What are you doing?”

Randa was silent for an uncomfortable few seconds while she finished typing. She set her phone down and turned to Alayne. “Hand over your phone. I’m fixing this.”

Alayne’s eyes went wide with panic. She shoved her phone under her stomach and curled up on top of it for protection. “No, you’re not meddling! You promised you wouldn’t meddle!”

Randa got up and crouched in front of Alayne’s face. “I’m not meddling, I’m giving you two tonight’s date,” Randa said, huffing. “Now give me your phone so that I can text him!” She shoved her hand under Alayne, feeling around. After a minute of wrestling, Randa yanked the phone free and ran off to the kitchen.

Alayne stared at the television, nose wrinkled in disgust at the annoying ad jingle that played. “I hate you,” she muttered, resigning herself to whatever fate Randa had concocted.

“He says he’ll do it!” Randa shouted, running back over to the couch. She tossed the phone down and started cleaning up the junk lying around.

Alayne, fumbling for the remote buried in the cushions, looked at her roommate. “What the…” She wedged the remote free and lowered the volume to get rid of those horrendous jingles. “Are you cleaning?” she asked.

“Your boyfriend is coming over for the first time. I want him to be impressed,” Randa said. She was almost too matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

Alayne’s blood went cold for a second. Shaking her head, she sat up and kicked some of the blankets off. “Okay, first off he’s not my boyfriend. And second, he’s not coming over. I’m literally dying. The last thing I want is for him to see me like this,” she said.

“Exactly, which is why we’re cleaning you, too,” Randa said as she dumped a pile of books on the shelf beneath the coffee table. Before Alayne had time to react, Randa grabbed her hands and yanked her up off of the couch. “Come on, dummy,  you need a shower. You smell and the steam might help clear out your head.”

Alayne swallowed painfully, stumbling as she was led to the bathroom. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. There was no use in arguing with Randa when she was like this.

The water was scalding hot, but the steam was worth it. Alayne stood in the shower, letting the mucus drip unceremoniously from her clogged sinus as she marveled at the notion of air passing through her nose for the first time in days.

Reluctantly, Alayne eventually exited the shower and donned her clean pyjamas. Randa had picked out the comfy silk ones, probably because they were the more modest choice. As Alayne returned to the main room, she stopped to marvel at Randa’s speedy cleaning job. The apartment hadn’t looked this neat, well, ever.

Sighing, Alayne returned to her spot on the couch. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked. “You know I’m no fun when I’m sick.”

“Yes, which is why Mya and I have to act like your moms, because you end up wallowing and groaning and would never get better,” Randa replied without missing a beat. There was a pause. “On that note, doing something happy might actually make you feel better? Imagine that?” Randa walked up behind Alayne and mussed her damp hair.

Alayne ducked out of the hair-mussing as soon as it started. She didn’t need more knots and tangles than she already had. Getting up, she retrieved a comb and started to work her way through the rats-nest on her head. “When is he getting here?” she asked. Her mouth went dry as she said the words. Willas? Here? It was a recipe for disaster.

“However long it takes for him to get from his place to here minus however long it’s been since I asked him to come over,” Randa said.

The front door opened and Alayne froze in panic. Mya backed in, carrying a full load of groceries, which sent a wave of relief through Alayne. She had never imagined him coming here. Her home was such personal space. And not to mention a shared space, too.

“ETA on the boy?” Mya asked as she set the bags down on the kitchen counter.

Alayne looked at the time on her phone. “Ten minutes, unless traffic is unusually light,” she called from her seat.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She wouldn’t say she had been relieved when she realized she’d have to cancel the date. She wanted to see him, of course, but dating him was stressful. Part of her wanted to spill every detail of her life to him and hope for the best. But most of her knew that was a terrible idea. Still, she found herself having to consciously monitor everything she says. It had been years since that was an issue. So why was it one now?

A buzz came from the speaker next to the door. Randa hurried over, leaving Mya alone in the kitchen to chop vegetables, and answered the intercom. Not a minute later, there was a knock on the door.

Alayne panicked and ducked behind the back of the couch and pulled the blanket over her. Her heart was racing for no good reason. She shut her eyes and evened out her breathing. It was just Willas.

“Hey, Myranda, it’s nice to formally meet you,” Willas said. Alayne could hear the smile in his voice. “And Mya! I’ve heard plenty about your food-finding skills.” He laughed and, oh, it was such a lovely laugh.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Willas,” Mya said. It sounded as though she had emerged from the kitchen. Were they hugging? Alayne wasn’t sure if she wanted to dare look. “Your girlfriend is on the couch. Whether or not she’s alive is debatable.” Mya’s voice retreated back to the kitchen.

Willas’s footsteps made their way over to where Alayne was hiding. He must not need his cane today, because she couldn’t hear it’s usual tap. The blanket lifted to reveal his face with a stupid grin pasted across it. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days and his perfect jaw was covered in the perfect amount of stubble. “Hey,” was all she managed to get out.

“Hey there. I take it you aren’t dead, then?” He put his other hand under her shoulders and lifted her up just enough for him to sit down where her head was. He let her head rest on his lap and tossed the blanket back so that her face wasn’t covered.

Alayne found the position surprisingly comfortable. “Unfortunately, no,” she replied. “You shouldn’t have come over, Willas. You really didn’t need to.”

“Of course I didn’t _need_  to, but I wanted to. I like seeing you, Alayne,” he said. His voice was gentle and she could feel the low vibration of his it through her head.

A warmth developed in her chest at his words. “I like seeing you, too,” she said. She propped herself up on an elbow and reached up to kiss him. It was a warm, soft kiss. The perfect kind of kiss, in her opinion.

“Okay, lovebirds, break it up. I didn’t invite him over for you two to make out. You don’t see Mya and I sucking face here in the living room, do you?” Randa said as she re-entered the main room.

Alayne dropped back down to put her head back on Willas’s lap at Randa’s request. She turned on her side to look out at the TV, but more so to hide the bright red blush that was creeping up her face. “Yeah, but I certainly _hear_  you,” she said under her breath. Whether or not Randa heard, Alayne didn’t know. But she could feel Willas shaking with laughter beneath her.

Randa flipped through their collection of movies. “Anything in particular you want to watch?” she asked. “And not that four hour version of The Dance of the Dragons. You know I hate that one,” she added, looking at Alayne pointedly.

“Anything is fine,” Willas said as he gently stroked Alayne’s hair.

Alayne huffed in disappointment at Randa’s rejection of, in her opinion, the objectively perfect movie. Historical drama was _everything_. “I don’t care, then. I’ll probably fall asleep anyway,” she said.

“Not until you eat!” Mya called from the kitchen. Several beeps from the oven and microwave later, the she emerged and joined the others. “We’re having chicken tonight, so I hope you’re okay with that. And your soup is in the microwave. You need to eat all of it since you slept through lunch.”

“Yes, mom,” Alayne whispered with a giggle. She looked up at Willas with a mockingly incredulous face. “Do you see what I have to put up with? Gods have mercy on their children.”

Randa put on some animated movie, but Alayne didn’t particularly care. Now that he was here, she was actually glad that she was getting to spend some pseudo-intimate time with him. Even if they weren’t allowed to kiss while Mya and Randa were in the room.

Alayne sat up for as long as it took her to down the soup. She was tired of eating nothing but beef broth and vegetables. Willas, once he was given a plate of food, let her steal a few bites. As difficult as it was to swallow non-mushy food down her raw throat, the taste of it was worth every wince. With food in her stomach, the steady motion of Willas’s breathing beneath her, and a movie she had seen a hundred times on TV, it didn’t take very long for the drowsiness of the medication to overwhelm her and send her into a deep sleep.

It was the shifting of Willas beneath her that finally woke Alayne up. She wasn’t totally awake, but she knew what was going on around her. Bleary-eyed, she she looked up to see Willas stretching his back as he stood over her. The credits of the movie were playing, some piano ballad coming through the speakers. Willas leaned down and brushed some hair from Alayne’s forehead before planting a gentle kiss in its place. She hummed, half-smiling in her half-sleep. Reaching out, she took his hand and mumbled something. She heard him say something to Randa and Mya, and then the front door shut. The warmth in her chest faded and was replaced by a heavy weight. She wished she hadn’t fallen asleep so she could’ve spent more time with him. There wasn’t much time to dwell on it as she slipped back into her medication-induced slumber.


	16. Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mya and Randa are having a giddy night watching TV. Alayne asks Willas what's between them.

“Let’s go!” Mya half-shouted as she leaped onto the couch from behind. Randa was right behind her, electing not to jump because she was holding two glasses full of a ghastly concoction of alcohols Alayne had mixed for them.

Watching from the kitchen as she carefully hid all of the strong liquor somewhere the soon-to-be-drunk pair wouldn’t find it, Alayne rolled her eyes at the pair. Normally she’d be right with them, especially given the occasion, but it was her last day on the medication and she wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol. Even worse was that the stuff also made her drowsy and so Chataya refused to let her come to work. It made sense, since she was probably going to accidentally fall asleep early anyway.

Her hiding duty done, Alayne joined her roommates in front of the TV. Tonight was the public debate session between the candidates. Technically, the entire day had been debates for all positions under election, but this was the only one Mya and Randa really cared about. Joffrey’s smug face was plastered across the screen as he walked on stage, smiling and waving at a cheering crowd. “Gods, he’s disgusting to look at. You can just see the rich boy attitude in his face,” she said quietly.

“Shut up, Alayne, you can’t appreciate it because you know he’s a dick,” Randa said after a huge gulp of her drink.

Mya turned to look at her couch-mate with a look for horror. “Are you drunk already? Because I’m pretty sure sober you wouldn’t say that.”

“No, I’m not drunk, I just may have had an extra shot while you two weren’t looking half an hour ago.”

“Randa!” Mya grabbed the drink from her girlfriend’s hand and put it down out of her reach. “We haven’t even started. I want to win fairly.”

Alayne pulled out her phone, tuning the girls out. She texted Willas, asking if he was watching the debate. A few seconds later, he responded. _No, I don’t think I’d stay awake_. Chuckling, she started relaying a play by play of Mya's and Randa’s commentary.

Willas went silent for half an hour, and Alayne’s heart sunk a bit at the loss of her texting buddy. Watching the others get drunk to boring politics wasn’t as much fun as actually getting drunk herself. Just as she was debating going to bed early, her phone buzzed.

_Want to take a walk?_  Willas asked.

Biting her lip, Alayne weighed her options. She didn’t particularly want to leave Mya and Randa alone like this. It’s not that they couldn’t take care of themselves, it’s that if she left they might get ideas and do something that she didn’t particularly want to walk back in on. On the other hand, she hadn’t seen Willas since he came over a few days before.

_Meet you at Rhaenys’s Hill by the Aegon I statue._  Alayne shut off her phone and retrieved her shoes and a jacket. There’d definitely be taxis floating around. On a night like this, most people were home. And the hill park was always pretty at night. Willas responded with an affirmative and Alayne grabbed her keys.

“Hey, where are you running off to?” Mya asked. The alcohol had flushed her cheeks a bit, but not nearly as much as Randa.

Tying her shoes, Alayne tried to be casual about ditching them. “Willas wanted to hang out,” she said. “I know we planned to do this together, but I’m not sure how much longer I can watch Randa shout at the television.”

“Whatever you say,” Mya said, shrugging and returning to the chaos on screen.

Alayne flagged down a taxi and took the ten-block ride up the hill to the park. She wasn’t opposed to walking the city, but the last few blocks up the hill were brutal and she didn’t have it in her tonight. Paying the driver, she hopped out and wandered around the statue for a few minutes.

“There you are!” Willas called. He was several yards down the path and heading towards her. “I’m embarrassed to say that it’s been so long since I’ve visited this place I forgot where the statue was.”

Shaking her head, Alayne took his arm. “And to think I thought this would be an easy spot to meet,” she said in self-mockery. “How are you?”

“Excellent now that you’re back on your feet,” he said with a smile. He kissed her on the cheek as they strolled along the path. “How are Mya and Randa?”

Alayne stifled a laugh. “Probably not watching TV anymore,” she said.

They walked in silence, admiring the view of the city from various lookout points. Alayne stopped to look at the statue of Rhaenyra Targaryen. She was the first woman to hold the office of president, even if she was assassinated only six months into her term. Turning to Willas, she sighed. “I know we don’t talk politics, but part of me wishes Daenerys was running lead rather than Aegon. It’d be nice to see another woman in the office.”

Willas hummed in what Alayne guessed was agreement. Several painfully silent seconds later, he spoke. “It’d be nice to have a pair that actually gives a shit about the population for once,” he said. She was surprised by his answer.

As they passed the next statue, Willas broke the silence again. “Do you have any plans for Stranger’s Day?”

Alayne stopped, looking down as she thought. She frowned, and then looked back up. “I don’t think so? Last year the girls and I just cruised the street festival, but I think Randa might be going home this year for a family event. Why?” Alayne drifted a little bit closer to him, hugging his arm tighter. A small smile grew on her lips as she guessed what he was about to say.

“Ahh, well,” he started. He paused, flashing a wide smile. It almost looked like he was nervous.

Snorting a small laugh, Alayne nudged him. “If you want to hang out you just need to ask. It’s not like our first time going on a date, Willas,” she said.

“Yes, right. Of course,” he said with a sigh. He shook his head.

It was Alayne’s turn to lean over and plant a kiss on his cheek. They walked for another few minutes in silence. It was a comfortable silence, and butterflies stirred in her stomach at the notion of being so at ease around him. It was her turn to speak. “I know that this has really only been going on for a short while, but I enjoy spending time with you,” she said.

“Oh really? I couldn’t tell,” he interrupted.

Playfully scoffing, she nudged him a little harder in retaliation. “I say this because when Randa invited you over she referred to you as my boyfriend. And I realized that we never actually defined whatever is between us.”

Willas stopped and pulled his arm free. “Alayne, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?” His tone sounded mocking, but Alayne got the feeling he was just messing with her.

“No, well yes, but no,” Alayne crossed her arms, looking down at her feet. She rocked back and forth on her heels. The butterflies went wild in her gut. Stumbling over her words, she continued. "We’re not fifteen, Willas. I’m not trying to make a big deal out of this. I just want to know what to call this.”

Willas gently took hold of her shoulders. “Hey, I’m just messing with you. If there’s one thing you need to get through your—and I say this lovingly—neurotic head is that half of what I say is meant to be funny.” Pulling her in, he hugged her and kissed her forehead. “We’re dating, okay? Whatever you want to call me, I’m okay with it.”

Alayne let out a heavy sigh, resting her head on his shoulder with her face buried in his neck. Standing in his embrace like this was perhaps the safest, most secure place she had ever been. She took a moment to memorize the feeling, because a voice in the back of her mind was screaming that it might not last. “I know,” she whispered.


	17. Submission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne submits to some of her physical desires. Willas doesn't argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to sit down and write this, I was busy getting a job and stuff. But I hope this was worth the wait!

Alayne loved Stranger’s Day almost as much as she loved Maiden’s Day. Of all the holidays, these two were perhaps the most widely celebrated simply because it was an excuse for cities and towns to throw major festivals in the streets. As usual, King’s Landing went all out. Everyone was dressed up in black and red, parading around in the street drunkenly. The atmosphere was magical.

She strolled down Sisters Street, where most of the parades and street vendors had set up shop. She and Willas had agreed to meet on one of these corners, but in all of the chaos she wondered if that’d be enough information for them to find each other. She hopped up onto her toes, craning her neck to look above the crowd. His gorgeous mop of curly brown hair shouldn’t be that difficult to pick out.

“I’m over here!” he called from behind her. She turned, a grin of her own to match the one spread across his face. She dropped back down to her heels and jogged over to meet him. Without hesitation, she went in for a kiss. His lips were warm and soft and she wanted more when they pulled apart. “I was worried I’d never find you,” he said, tapping her nose with a long finger.

She scrunched her nose at his touch. No one cared about a publicly affectionate couple in a crowd of this size. “I considered calling, but it’s a moot point now, I guess,” she said. “So, do you want to get something to drink? I think there’s a number of places open down that way.” She gestured down the road towards the Guild Hall.

“Sounds good,” he said. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they started walking.

The road was littered with confetti and used napkins and bottles of beer. Such was the state of a big city in celebration. Alayne felt bad for the poor cleaning crew that would have to come in late tonight and remove all of the trash people neglected to put in the bins.

A couple of blocks down, they hit one of the concerts. Local artists had signed up months ago to play in the street. The crowds around them were always uncomfortably dense as people danced in the street. They stopped to grab a drink, Alayne wincing at how much these street vendors were asking for what, in hindsight, she probably could have just stolen from Chataya’s and brought along. Their next stop was a few stalls down where someone was selling food. Alayne had eaten before she left the apartment, but being a bartender gave her a little voice in the back of her head that told her to eat constantly if she was going to be drinking in public.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked, holding his free hand out to her.

Licking the last of the greasy snack from her fingers, she took his hand and let him lead her to the dense crowd around the band. She was glad she had opted for trainers rather than flats. When their drinks ran out, Alayne started to pull him from the dancing crowd for more. They continued on through the street and hit a section of vendors selling a bunch of masks. They were always a huge thing during Stranger’s Day. Alayne chuckled to herself as she stroked the pretty feathers on one of the pieces. She already wore a mask, who had need for another? Even so, she loved the artistry of them.

Willas walked up behind her and took her hand, interlacing their fingers. “You want to grab us some more drinks? I need to get a present for Marg’s birthday and I think she’d appreciate one of these,” he said.

Alayne nodded and wandered off. She was craving something a bit stronger. A few stalls down someone was selling margaritas. Now that was strong. She bought a couple and then started weaving her way back to where Willas was. Just as she arrived, he turned away from the cashier to see her. He took one of the drinks and they continued walking.

Two drinks, four bands, and one snack later, they were reaching the end of the main festival. The sun was setting and the air was cooling rapidly, although the alcohol gave her a warmth she knew would eventually wear off. Cars were starting to appear again, moving at a snail’s pace so as to not hit any of the tipsy partiers such as themselves. Willas called a taxi and they climbed in, giggling all the way.

“Your place?” Alayne suggested. “The drinks there don’t cost me my firstborn child and won’t come in gross plastic cups.”

Willas hummed in agreement as he relayed his address to the driver. Alayne snaked her arm through his and took his hand. He gently rubbed his thumb back and forth and she gave a gentle squeeze. They went quiet as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Don’t fall asleep on me, you’re the one who suggested we go back to my place,” Willas said with a laugh.

Alayne sat up, making a face. She lightly pushed him on the shoulder with her free hand. “Nonsense, how could I fall asleep and risk losing a minute of this day?”

Willas grinned and leaned over, planting a kiss on her cheek. She quickly redirected and returned with a kiss on his lips. He moaned slightly, either in surprise or in pleasure. As if on cue, the taxi pulled to a halt in front of Willas’s building. He broke away, paying the driver with a wad of cash before pulling Alayne from the vehicle. This was her first time seeing where he lived. She knew he was rich, of course, but it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d be living in some obscenely expensive apartment on Visenya’s Hill. Dragging her by the hand, they trot through the lobby and into an empty elevator. He fumbled around for his key, inserted it, and then hit the button. She realized it was a private elevator. Sansa would have known that. Of course he had a private elevator. This was Willas Tyrell, one of the richest men in Westeros.

As the doors closed, the painful wait began. She itched to kiss him again and hear him moan the way he did before. It woke something in her, a desire she had long since forgotten. Perhaps it was just the alcohol, though. The door opened to a hallway richly decorated with plush carpet and sconces along the wall to light the way.

“Come on,” Willas said, grabbing her by the hand again and walking up to his door. He pulled out a new key and unlocked the door, opening it to reveal his home.

In a rush, Sansa’s memories of her father’s apartment in King’s Landing, which was similar to this if decorated differently, came rushing back. It made her nauseous, but she hid it with a smile. “It’s wonderful,” she said, kicking her shoes off as he shut the door and set the package down on the entryway table.

“Thanks, Marg did a lot of the decorating. She keeps buying me artwork and rugs and stuff, saying it’ll look great with this other piece I have. She’s not wrong, and hey, it makes my job easy,” he said. He closed the gap between them and pulled her into a loose embrace. “Now, why don’t you go pour us something interesting and I’ll put on some music or something. I hate a quiet house.”

Alayne stole another quick kiss before setting off to explore his collection. She found a significant variety of whiskeys, and she wasn’t surprised. It was almost the only thing he drank when he came into Chataya’s. Shaking her head, she wondered how narrow-minded he was regarding his social drinking. His wine fridge below the tray of bottles was pitifully empty. She’d have to fix that if she was going to be over frequently.

A chill ran up her spine and she stiffened. She realized the thought she just had and kicked herself. She was getting too comfortable with the idea of dating him. In a flash, the nausea of the future returned and she felt like she wanted to be sick. Grabbing a bottle of dark whiskey, she poured herself a sip and downed it to calm herself. Gods, she loved the placebo effect. She poured two proper glasses and was about to turn around when she felt Willas’s arms wrapping around her waist.

“You know me so well, Alayne,” he said. She could hear the smile in his voice. It was low and so deliciously rough as he whispered in her ear. She turned in his arms, holding his glass out. He took it and they clinked glasses, each taking a gulp from their drink.

“You know me well, too,” Alayne responded, referencing the soft piano music playing in the background.

“I didn’t want anything too distracting, and you seem like a piano kind of woman,” he said, kissing her deeply.

The taste of the whiskey was fresh on his lips. It was her turn to moan. She heard him set his drink down and then felt his hand slip behind her head, pulling her in closer. She twisted her arm around to set her own drink down and let her hands crawl up his chest. She pressed just hard enough to get a good feel for what lay underneath his shirt.

He pressed his hips into hers, pinning her between him and the counter. She responded by pressing back harder with her hands, forcing them to separate. Taking a deep breath, she saw a hunger in the way he looked at her that matched her own. She stepped forward and it was her turn to pull him in, yanking him down by the face to kiss him some more. It was rougher this time. She let her teeth scrape against his lip, biting him ever so gently. He let out another low moan, and so she bit harder. His hands ran down her sides, taking hold of her by the hips. They stumbled aimlessly, kissing until she felt dizzy. Her back came into contact with a wall and he again pinned her up against it. She let her hands wander downwards, feeling his chest again as she made her way down to hold his waist. It was a good thing she was almost as tall as he was, or making out like this would’ve been difficult.

His hips jerked forward again, and this time she felt him hard in his pants. It was a good match to the desperate ache that was developing between her legs. It had been so, so long since she felt this kind of desire. But it was good to know that she hadn’t lost her touch, because he certainly wasn’t complaining. Not to mention he was justso good at kissing her in just the right way to make her want more. They had moved beyond alcohol-driven intimacy. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, making contact with his, and tasting more of the delicious combination of drinks they had consumed that day.

Willas’s hand wandered down her side and took a firm hold on her ass. Without thinking, her leg wandered up, rubbing his. It occurred to her that he had been on his feet all day and she wondered if he hurt. Probably not, or he would’ve sat down rather than initiated this. She brought her hands to his front again and started unbuttoning his shirt from the bottom. He chuckled, breaking apart just a hair to speak.

“Gods you’re a wanton woman, Alayne,” he said. Had she wanted to respond, she wouldn’t have gotten the chance as he resumed kissing her. He started again at her mouth, and then began moving. He dipped his head just enough so that he could travel along her jawline, nipping along the way to leave little bite marks. He then reached her ear and started downwards, sucking on her neck to leave bruises she knew Mya and Randa would give her a hard time about tomorrow. But it was worth it, and she turned her head to bare more of her neck for him. Her leg hitched up further, her knee now pressed into his hip. She had finally reached the top of his shirt, and happily slipped her hands through the opening to run her hands up his chest beneath. Bringing one hand back up, she took hold of his neck again.

“Couch?” she asked. “Your leg needs a break.” He pulled up, licking his lips, and nodded.

“You’re probably right,” he said in a hurry as she slipped out from between him and the wall. She made it as far as the back of the couch before he caught up to her. Pulling her around by the shoulder, he went back to kissing her. This time, she hopped up on the back of the couch, letting both of her legs pull upwards to clamp his hips. She held onto him by his shirt while his hands worked their way down to grab hold of her ass again.

He pressed deeper into the kiss, and she felt herself slip backwards. Before she could react, she slid down onto the couch, her legs hanging over the back as he grabbed her by the hands to keep her from falling further backwards and knocking her head against anything as she went down. They froze, him holding her up and her in what was a surprisingly comfortable, if unconventional position sitting on the couch.

Willas cracked first, starting to laugh as she disentangled her legs from him and swung them down onto the couch. Once she was settled, he walked around the couch and sat down next to her.

“Well, that was not what I was going for,” he said as he sunk down into the plush seat. He stretched his leg out along the other branch of the L-shaped piece of furniture.

Alayne, also having broken down into laughter, sighed audibly and settled her head against his chest. “It was bound to happen,” she said softly.

He freed his hand from under her and started to stroke her hair. He ran his fingers through it gently. Every time he made contact with her scalp, it sent a tingle of pleasure through her skin. She loved people playing with her hair. She closed her eyes, letting herself put more weight against him. Exhaustion overcame her. Between the day of walking, the dancing, the drinking, and what she could only assume was supposed to be foreplay, she started to crave sleep. As his breathing beneath her slowed, she realized he probably felt the same, too.

“Maybe it’s just the sunset doing things with the light, but I swear you have just a hint of red in your hair,” he murmured. “I love it.”


	18. Neglect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas makes a mistake. Alayne pays for it in stress.

_I definitely did something wrong._  Alayne hadn’t heard from Willas for nearly a week. No calls. No texts. No visits. No nothing. Alayne had brushed it off as exhaustion and busy schedules for the first two days. Then she started to grow concerned. She texted him on day three, asking if he was still up for dinner that night, and if so, where he wanted to go. No answer. Wednesday came and went and she left two voicemails. On Thursday she cried alone in her room, wondering what she could’ve done wrong on their last date to warrant such a silence. She replayed their encounter in his apartment over and over in her mind, analyzing every little thing she did, looking for some sense of dissatisfaction on his part and yet she found none.

Friday morning, Alayne wakes up post-tears and is glad that she doesn’t need to report to work until late that evening. As she stumbles out into the kitchen for breakfast, Randa says nothing. She and Mya had probably heard Alayne crying the night before. But thankfully, neither saw fit to pry. They had both gone through tough break-ups before. If this was to be the end of it, they all might as well let it fade away unceremoniously.

As Alayne poured herself a glass of juice, Randa called from her chair across the room. “Alayne. Alayne! Get over here!”

“What?” Alayne meandered over to the table across from Randa

“Alayne, answer your fucking phone!” Randa practically leaped over the table and shoved the phone into Alayne’s hand, answer button already pressed.

Alayne glanced at the name and her stomach dropped. It was Willas. It had been damn near a week and he chosenow to call? She brought the phone to her ear and swallowed the painful lump in her throat. She had to sound okay. “Hello?” she asked, her voice quiet and flat.

“Hi, is this Alayne?” It wasn’t Willas. It was a woman’s voice.

Alayne swore she knew the voice, but it wasn’t coming. Clearing her throat, she spoke up. “Uh, yes, this is Alayne. Who is this?”

“It’s Margaery, Willas’s sister.”

Alayne’s vision went white for a second as she leaned forward to plant a hand firmly on the table. Randa must have noticed her distress, because she reached out to gently hold Alayne’s hand down. “Oh,” was all she could get out.

“Willas went in for a surgery on Monday for his knee and seems to not have told you. Nor did he think it appropriate to bother checking his phone until I found it dead this morning between the couch cushions.” Alayne could hear the eye roll in Margaery’s voice. “Anyway, he is just now coming off the heavy-duty painkillers and I think he’d like to talk to you. That is, if you’re not livid about the whole thing and never want to see his fa-“

“Put him on,” Alayne interrupted. She desperately wanted to hear his voice. Six days of silence had been torture and she hated herself for being so attached so quickly. She wasn’t supposed to be this in _love_  with him. She wasn’t supposed to crave the way she was.

“Alayne, I’m so, so, so, sorry about everything,” Willas said. He sounded almost as desperate as she was. “I meant to tell you, but then in the haze of Saturday I forgot and before I knew it, I was doped up on medication and had no idea what day it was or how long it had been.”

Alayne blinked back tears. They were happy ones, and she looked down at Randa’s silently happy-screaming face. She reached up and wiped the dampness away, sniffling. “No, it’s okay. I was just worried I had done something.”

Willas chuckled. “Love, you could never do anything to warrant me pulling a stunt like this intentionally.”

_Oh, I could think of something,_ Alayne thought. She bit her tongue, the smile fading just a bit as she sat down across from Randa.  Her body was limp and weak from the sudden dissipation of stress. “Okay, but tell me why you were in surgery! Honestly, how could you forget to mention something like that?”

Willas was quiet for a few seconds. She could picture in his head the way he always gaped and waves his arms when he was trying to come up with words. “It was routine?” was the best he could come up with, apparently. Alayne sighed loudly. “Okay, so when I was first injured, they had to reconstruct my entire knee. A lot of scar tissue built up and they wanted to go in and remove it. It’s no big deal and I’ll be up and walking in a week.”

It was a satisfactory explanation, Alayne had to admit. And she was glad that he had siblings taking care of him. “I take it Margaery has been helping you out, then?”

“Yes, you could say that.” It was Willas’s turn to sigh loudly. “She was the one to drive me to and from the hospital and she’s been staying with me ever since. I think she thinks I don’t know how to care for my own damn leg.” There was a pause and she heard Marg’s voice in the background. Willas barked a laughed. “I’d be up and walking by now if you didn’t keep shoving me back down onto this couch every time I try!” he called back. “Anyway, she found my phone and thoroughly berated me for not only keeping the surgery a secret from you, but also keeping you a secret from her.

Alayne smiled weakly, half-heartedly chuckling at him. She was concerned as to where this was goingand she prayed to the Seven that she was wrong. She didn’t think she was ready. “Oh?” She tried to sound intrigued. It sort of worked.

“Yes,” he started. “I know you have work, and I imagine Marg will keep me seated for at least another couple of days, so why don’t you come over to dinner here on Tuesday when you’re free? Marg is already excited to meet you. And I really want to see you, but I know you’ve got a busy weekend schedule.”

Alayne felt like vomiting for a second before she answered. “Sure,” she said, forcing a smile on her face and in her voice. “I’d love to.”

They said their goodbyes and Alayne gently put the phone face-down on the table. Her hands were shaking. Randa reached across and took hold of them gently.

“Hey, are you okay?” Randa asked quietly.

Alayne started to feel dizzy again. “I’m meeting his sister,” she said. She reached out and clenched her glass until her knuckles went white, taking a sip. It was hard to swallow and didn’t well in her stomach. “Randa, I don’t know if I can do this."


	19. Defense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margaery asks a lot of questions. Alayne doesn't want to give the answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three things:
> 
> 1) I have Problems with GRRM's lack of linguistic diversity in Westeros, so I made a hand-wavy version of a linguistic history for the continent based on invasions, etc. All you really need to know is that the Vale, Dorne, and the North do still have their own languages that do get taught/used, while most of the rest of Westeros kind of converged over the centuries due to trade and whatnot.
> 
> 2) If you got here via Tumblr, please please please reblog my post with the link, because Tumblr doesn't put posts with external links in the search results.
> 
> 3) Also, if you're on Tumblr, I've started a new blog called SansaWillasHQ to be a kind of hub for SansaWillas stuff on Tumblr, including links to fic here. My username over there is the same as here, so get in contact with me if you want to be involved.

Alayne took a moment to breathe before knocking on the door to Willas’s apartment. She closed her eyes, exhaling deeply. It was just Margaery. Alayne could handle Margaery. She reached out and gently pressed the doorbell. The door swung open seconds later to reveal the one and only Margaery Tyrell. It was surreal to see her in person after so many months of pictures on TV and in the newspaper. She was still a bit unnaturally perfect.

“Alayne!” Margaery shouted, immediately going in for a hug. “Oh, it’s so wonderful to finally meet you!"

The sudden level of familiarity shocked Alayne, and she gently returned the embrace. Laughing nervously, she pulled back early and brushed her hair behind her ear. “It’s nice to meet you, Margaery,” she said.

Marg didn’t waste a second, looping her arm through Alayne’s and guiding her into the apartment. “I’m so sorry about Willas, he does this to everyone. He hates being dependent on anyone when it comes to that leg of his. I think he’s just still in denial over it, even all these years later. He’ll say he forgot, but that’s a lie. He doesn’t want to bother anyone with it, which is why I was surprised to get a call from the hospital on Monday asking me to come and pick him up after his surgery.” They rounded the corner and entered the living room, where Willas was resting on the couch, his leg propped up by a bunch of pillows. “Isn’t that right, Will?”

“Hm? Are you telling lies about me to Alayne?” Willas looked up from his book, a sly smile to match the one worn by Margaery. It struck Alayne how similar they looked.

“Not at all!” Margaery replied. “I should go put dinner in the oven."

Alayne released Margaery’s arm and went over to Willas. She bent over and planted a soft kiss on his forehead, brushing his soft brown hair out of the way. “I wish you had told me about this,” she said as she sat down. Willas’s jaw tightened as he looked down at the closed book in his lap. Margaery was right, he had kept it from her intentionally. “Just, promise me that you won’t leave me in the dark, okay? I care about you.”

Willas reached over and took her hand. “I know, and I’m sorry,” he said, returning her kiss.

Margaery returned to the room, chipper voice to match her smile. “I just put the chicken in the oven, so we’ve got a little while before dinner,” she announced as she took a seat across from Willas and Alayne. “So, Alayne, tell me how you two met. Willas isn’t one for divulging such secrets.”

Alayne stiffened when Margaery addressed her. Her voice was sickly sweet, in a way that made Alayne’s skin crawl. She told herself it was nothing, but there was something in Margaery's tone that just didn’t sound right. Clearing her throat, Alayne sat up straight and released Willas’s hand, folding her own neatly in her lap. “I work as a bartender and a couple of months ago Willas happened to walk in and we hit it off. Nothing super interesting,” she said. She wanted to sound as dismissive about it as possible. The less Margaery pried, the better. She had a reputation for knowing secrets.

“That’s wonderful. How long have you been here in the city? By your last name I figure you’re from the Vale, but you’ve got so little of an accent that I-“

“I intentionally got rid of the accent,” Alayne interrupted. “We grew up bilingual in the group home since most of us were likely to move to a larger city outside of the Vale anyway. Most children in the Vale learn both languages now.” She would make sure that was the end of that discussion. “I’ve been in King’s Landing for a few years living with friends.”

Margaery seemed to take the hint that Alayne didn’t want to discuss her past. “Do you enjoy your work? I’ve always been curious as to how people get into industries like that.”

“Yes, I like what I do. It pays well and the girls who work there are wonderful. And most of us are using it as a step stone towards larger careers, but we do genuinely enjoy where we are,” Alayne said.

Margaery seemed to be satisfied with the answer, and excused herself to go and check on dinner. Willas shifted to face Alayne properly, his mouth set in a concerned frown.

“Hey, are you okay? You seem really tense,” he said, taking her hands back into his own and brushing his thumb over her knuckles. It was a calming sensation.

Alayne sighed, slumping out of her straight-backed posture. “I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile.

He eyed her, and she knew he probably didn’t believe her. But he didn’t push the matter. He leaned over, kissed her on the lips, and then started the process of collecting his crutches and standing up.

Dinner passed without much excitement. Margaery continually gave Willas a hard time for wanting to do things himself, and Willas continually told off Margaery for trying to coddle him. Alayne was amused at it all, and spent most of the meal quiet unless directly asked a question, which usually came from Margaery. The other woman seemed to have gotten the hint that Alayne didn’t want to talk a whole lot about her past, and whatever conclusion she had come to as to why, Alayne was satisfied to leave it unconfirmed.

Margaery and Alayne cleaned up while Willas made his way back to the couch. Alayne offered to help to clean the kitchen, but Margaery was insistent that she go spend time with Willas rather than "try to butt in on a one-person job” as she had put it.

Alayne settled down next to Willas, resting her head on his shoulder as he read his book. After a few minutes, he closed the book and kissed the top of her head. “I really am sorry, Alayne,” he said quietly.

“Don’t worry, I probably would have done the same,” she replied. A small smile spread across her lips as she felt him chuckle beneath her. She picked her head up and looked directly at him, their faces inches apart. She bit her lip and moved in a little bit closer. “I’m just disappointed that we can’t pick up where we left off last time.”

She could feel his chest rise as he inhaled sharply, a lustful look in his eyes to match her own. “You and me both,” he said.

Alayne reached up with her free hand and pulled him into a deep kiss by the neck. Her fingers crawled their way up into his hair and wrapped them tightly into his curls. A small moan escaped her mouth and she wished that she could throw her leg over him, settle down on his lap, and kiss him until they were both weak. But her weight on a recovering leg wasn’t the wisest of moves, and so she refrained, as much as it pained her to do so. Next time, when his leg was more stable.


	20. Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne gets to have her fun. Willas almost says what she's afraid to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I changed the rating to M because of the obvious reasons.
> 
> 2) Yes, I've got 43 chapters planned! We're just about halfway! Buckle up, because it's gonna be one hell of a ride from here on out.

Alayne crouched in front of the oven, humming quietly to herself as she watched the pizza inside bake. Willas had offered to simply order delivery, but Alayne insisted that baking a frozen one would save time and money and they wouldn’t be interrupted by some stranger at the door. Willas relented, and so she had swung by a store on her way over for their movie date night at his place.

The timer sounded and she yanked open the oven door, pulling the tray out. She sliced it up and then brought the entire thing over to the living room, where Willas was sitting on the couch, browsing his collection of movies for something they could watch.

Alayne wasted no time in taking her seat and selecting her first slice. It was hot and the cheese was gooey, which made for a messy attempt at eating. She leaned her head back, letting the limp slice descend into her mouth just enough for a bite without letting anything spill on the cushions beneath. “Pick something boring,” she said after swallowing a too-hot mouthful.

Willas looked at her out of the corner of his eye, a sly smile gracing his lips as he continued browsing movies. “No, I thought I’d pick some dramatic thriller that would keep your eyes glued to the screen all night,” he said sarcastically. He leaned forward to grab a slice of his own, much less careful about potentially spilling the food. Then again, it was his couch and he could mess it up all he wanted.

After another bite, Alayne reached over and grabbed the remote from him. Willas scoffed, resigning himself to his food while she chose the movie. “You’re taking forever, let me just pick some historical drama I know you won’t recognize." She typed in a title, found a version she didn’t hate, and then hit play. Setting her slice down, she got up to dim the lights. She had a very specific intention for their evening and she was going to get the atmosphere right.

Margaery had left a couple of days before, one Willas was able to get up and walk around for a little while without needing the crutches. He was still on orders to keep his leg propped up and to not exert himself too much, but as far as Alayne could tell, he was intent on pushing himself to the limit if it meant getting better sooner. He was starting to grow restless with all of the sitting judging by how much he fidgeted in his seat.

“Really? Black Betha? You’re gonna make me watch a movie about Black Betha?” Willas asked, looking at her with incredulity that had to be fake.

Alayne sat back down, curling her legs up under her and leaning against Willas’s shoulder. “I’m not making you watch anything. I’m simply giving you good cause to let me distract you,” she said.

Willas rolled his eyes and took another bite. “You’re good, Alayne, I’ll give you that. You certainly know how to wrap a guy around your finger.”

They went quiet for a few minutes as the film started. Alayne had of course seen it several times as it was, in her opinion, one of the best films about the woman. Willas was the one to break the silence.

“Okay, Alayne, please tell me what was wrong last time you were here. I know you, and I know that smile of yours. You were uncomfortable. You used to give me the same smile the first few times I visited the bar,” he said. He adjusted himself so that his upper body was facing her, one arm thrown over the back of the couch.

Alayne swallowed deeply, looking down. She bit her lip, not sure how to explain herself to him. Interacting with Margaery had been a difficult experience for her. It was one thing that she, this intensely powerful and intelligent woman was Willas’s sister. But it was another thing altogether that she was also engaged to the slimy bastard who had caused Alayne’s existence. It was disconcerting. She had spent the entire time wondering how a woman like Margaery could lower herself to date and now marry such scum. When Alayne had gone home that night, she broke down crying in front of Randa.  _It’s starting to feel like I’m lying to him_ , she had said. _I hate this feeling of confusion. The boundaries are so blurry._

“Alayne?” Willas took hold of her hand gently, startling her out of her guilt-ridden trance. “Alayne, talk to me,” he said.

He can’t suspect, she thought as she turned to him, a small frown creasing her brow.I’m not ready to face any of this. “It was just weird to meet Margaery. She’s a lot to take in,” Alayne said, shrugging as she rested her head on the back of the couch and stared down at their entwined hands.

“Why? Margaery likes you plenty, if that’s what you’re worried about. She interrogates everyone. That’s why she’s good at her job,” he said with a laugh.

Alayne didn’t want to make eye contact with Willas. “I’m just not used to being around, you know, high society like her.”

“You’re saying I’m not high society?” he joked.

Rolling her eyes, Alayne reached out and gently shoved Willas on the shoulder. “You know what I mean. You’re more approachable. You’re fancy like her, but you don’t exude it in the same way. I feel like I can fit in around you. But her, not so much. It’ll take some getting used to.” Sure, that sounded real.

“Trust me, Alayne, if anyone could blend in and adapt to a new environment, it’d be you.”

_One would think_ , Alayne thought as she chuckled softly. Inhaling deeply, she sat up straight. “Anyway, tell Margaery I’m sorry if I came off as rude. I hope I didn’t make the night awkward,” she said.

Willas reached out, wrapping his arm around her waist, and pulled her in for a gentle kiss. “Not to worry, my dear,” he whispered when they broke contact. “I promise I won’t coerce you last-minute into being my date to her wedding at the end of the month.”

A little bit of bile crept up Alayne’s throat at the comment, but her doe-eyed post-kiss smile didn’t falter as she went back in for more. She kissed him harder, her hand crawling up his chest as he pulled her in to close the last couple of inches between their bodies. Sitting side-by-side on a couch wasn’t the most convenient position for what was clearly turning into a make-out session (as she had planned), but she’d wait for his signal before she hopped up onto his lap.

As if he had read her mind, Willas moved his hand from her waist and slipped it under the leg farthest from him. Cupping her thigh, he guided her leg up and over his lap so that she could straddle him.

Alayne, being nearly of height with Willas, had a few inches on him as she sat in his lap. Her head bowed so that she could reach his beautiful mouth, her hair fell around their faces like a curtain. He took hold of her hips, pulling her close against his own. A moan escaped her as his grip tightened. She moved her hands to behind his neck, tightly winding her fingers into his hair.

It was incredible how wonderful this feeling of control she had over him was. She rocked her hips a bit, grinding just a bit against him. It was enough to illicit a deep growl from him and he grew hard beneath her. Using her hold on his hair, she pulled their mouths apart. She was panting, her face hot from the blood rushing through her and her lips parted. She licked them, tasting him. There was a hungry look in his eye as he watched her.

“You never cease to surprise me, Alayne,” he said, his voice low.

As though time was moving slowly, he let his hands creep up under her shirt to hold her waist, never breaking eye contact. He had soft hands, and the way he gently ran them over her skin made everything he touched tingle. Wasting not another second, Alayne went back in, gracelessly pressing her mouth to his as she took her pleasure. She released his hair, bringing her hands forward to hold him by the sides of his face. At contact, Willas tightened his hold around her waist, his fingers spreading wide to feel as much of her as possible. His hands moved upwards, moving around to her back.

Alayne inhaled deeply, her hips rocking forward as she raised herself up a hair to accommodate his pull inwards. He broke contact, moving his mouth to her jaw just below the ear, kissing her through her loose hair. She brought one hand up to sweep all of her hair over to the shoulder opposite his mouth and settled down onto him again. His mouth moved down her neck, leaving little red marks on her skin. She leaned backwards, putting her weight against his hands on her back and tilted her head to expose her neck and collarbone.

“It’s a shame you’re not allowed to exercise,” she said, breathless. She wasn’t sure if she was ready, but gods she wanted it. That seemed to excite him, because he twitched a bit beneath her, pressing his hips up into hers.

“Damn my leg,” he responded before pulling one arm out from under her shirt to adjust himself in his seat so that he could sit up straighter. He paused, looking up at her, and his expression softened unexpectedly. He let his hand drift down her back, his touch light again as he held her in his lap. His other hand reached up and brushed some loose strands of hair from her face.

Alayne’s face heated at his touch, but not for desire. She hadn’t expected this jump in tone, and the way he looked at her insides knot in the best of ways. She looked down, biting her lip as he brushed his fingers along the line of her jaw. “What is it?” she asked quietly.

“I’m just amazed at how stunningly beautiful you are,” he whispered. Her face reddened even more. “I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

He leaned up, kissing her gently. It was a soft kiss, and she knew what he was thinking. There were three specific words behind those lips that she was both dying to hear and dreading.


	21. Gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas is at his sister's wedding. Alayne learns some hot gossip.

“Alayne, are you sure you want to stay home?” Randa stood in the doorway to Alayne’s room, arms crossed and jaw set.

Alayne rolled her eyes and shook her head. She got up off of her bed and brushed past her friend, limping out to the kitchen. There was no need for this kind of concern. “I’ll be fine, Randa, it’s just a twisted ankle. I just need to stay off of it for a day or two and then I’ll be able to get back to work with a brace or something.”

Randa huffed, cornering Alayne by the stove as she poured herself tea. “No, you know what I mean, Alayne. You know very well what tonight is and if I leave you here alone you’ll just dwell on it and it’ll make you all upset.”

“I won’t be alone,” Alayne retorted. She gestured to the other bedroom door. “I’ve got Mya to keep me company.”

“No, she’s coming with me. She changed her mind last minute.”

Alayne sighed, a little bit crestfallen that she’d be alone in the apartment for the entire afternoon and evening. Her tea busy steeping, she turned to Randa and crossed her own arms. “I’ll be fine, now go make sure your girlfriend didn’t drown in the shower.” Alayne waved Randa off and returned to her drink.

It was probably better that she was alone for the night. She could put on some music and drag all of her design work out into the larger space so that she could spread out. Still, it would be quiet. She limped over to the couch and set her mug down on the coffee table, pulling out her phone to text Willas.

_You aren’t the only one limping today. How’s the wedding?_ She tossed her phone on the couch and then limped her way to her room to collect all of her drawings. She wouldn’t be able to do any actual sewing, since lifting that machine with a bad ankle was a surefire way to get herself hurt even more, but she could start making clean copies of her designs and putting them in the binder. When she came back out and was suitably settled in her seat, she saw the response text from Willas.

_What happened?!_ The urgency in his punctuation was adorable, in her opinion.

_I twisted my ankle this morning. Nothing serious, but I’m gonna be off work for a couple of days._ She paused for a moment after hitting send and giggled. _Come to think of it, it’s a shame I’m not there. We’d make a great pair._

_Indeed we would :)_

Alayne stopped again before responding, looking at the time. Her brow creased, she looked down intently at her phone as she typed. _Isn’t the ceremony going on right now?_ There was a long pause as she watched him type his response.

_Religious marriages take a really long time, okay? They haven’t even gotten to the vows yet and my leg is stiff._

_Shut up and watch your sister’s marriage. Text me when you’re at the reception._

Alayne tossed her phone aside and cranked up the music, dancing in her seat as she started sifting through the large stack of sketches and drawings. This was one of the few things she wasn’t organized about, and mostly because she kept drawing in different places and none of the pages really fit together neatly.

An hour later, her phone buzzed.

_Wedding receptions are boring when you can’t dance_ , he said.

She had to give him that one, although she hadn’t really been to very many weddings in her adult life. She didn’t know many people. _I’ll take your word for it. Just don’t get drunk to pass the time! You’re still on your medication._

_I guess I’ll just have to talk to you the entire time_ , he said.

Alayne rolled her eyes. Although, the more she thought about it the more she figured he didn’t have much else to do. What she did remember of weddings was that it didn’t take very long for the adults to get drunk. And the kids, which is what she had been at the time, were left to do as they pleased and, in Arya’s case, that meant running around ruining her dress on the lawn. _Okay, so tell me all of the insane things people are doing._

There was a really long pause as he typed his message. Alayne started to wonder just who all had come to this wedding if there were that many crazy things going on.

_To start, the groom nearly choked on his own cake. Garlan had to give him a hard smack on the back and the chunk came flying out. Otherwise he’s his usual self. Let’s see, no one is going near my great-uncle Garth because he ate something weird earlier and his gut isn’t agreeing with it. Oh, and watching Robb and Cella try to dance is hilarious._

Alayne set her phone down to think. She had always remembered Robb as being such a graceful dancer. And Myrcella wasn’t the type to have two left feet. If anything, that would’ve been Joffrey. _Why?_ she asked.

_Because she looks like she swallowed a watermelon whole. But that’s what you get for being pregnant with twins. Gods help them._

Alayne threw her phone on the floor, shock turning her blood cold. It had to happen eventually, sure, but she certainly hadn’t been prepared for the news that she was going to be an aunt. _No, Sansa’s going to be an aunt. Alayne doesn’t have siblings_ , she thought. She hung her head in her hands and tears welled up in her eyes. Sansa was missing out on so much. Robb was going to have twins. Two little Starks to add to the family. And Sansa would never see them. Maybe. A few body-shaking sobs later, she took a deep breath and pulled herself together. Leaning over, she retrieved her phone. She could deal with this existential crisis later.

_Holy shit!_ seemed like an appropriate response. _How far along is she?_

_About halfway, according to Robb. But with two of them she looks further along. They’ve been keeping it under wraps until now. Since she started showing she stopped attending anything where her photo might be taken. Privacy and all._

Alayne shifted in her seat, her phone inches from he face as she typed a response rapidly. _I figured, because she wasn’t showing a couple of months ago. And I thought it was curious that she dropped off the radar so suddenly. I mean, she isn’t front page of the tabloids as often as her brother is, but nothing is weird._

_You’re as bad as Randa_ , he said. Alayne rolled her eyes. _But I wish that you were here with me._

A shot of adrenaline entered Alayne’s system as her thumbs hovered over the keypad. She didn’t know how to respond and tell him that she was nowhere near ready for something like that. Not to mention how many people there could potentially recognize her.

_Not to meet my family or anything_ , he followed up with. He must have guessed that she was stuck on a response. _It’s not as much fun to just text you._

_Fair_ , she said.

_But on that note, I kind of wish that you were here. I know you’re a bit skittish around high society, but I really want you to be a real part of my life and it feels wrong for you to not be here for such an important event in my family._

Alayne clenched her teeth together, letting out a groan as she slumped back in her seat. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. But he clearly was. They had been dating for about two and a half months and from his perspective things were looking pretty serious. After all, she was the person he wanted to bring as a date to his sister’s high profile wedding. But for her, she had no plan for where this was going to go. She had been actively avoiding one, calling it a fling, and now that was coming back to haunt her. She had real feelings for him and he had real feelings for her. Well, he had feelings for Alayne. She didn’t know who she was anymore.

_I know it makes you nervous, but I wanted to let you know that you’re really important to me and we do need to discuss this. Someday_ , he said.

_I know. I’ll text you later, I need to keep working on these drawings_ , she said and then tossed her phone aside again. He’d simply have to wait.


	22. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alayne lets some of Sansa slip out. Willas gets an unexpected view of the girl he's dating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, another note for anyone who cares:
> 
> 1) For the sake of my brain and storytelling, years pre-Aegon's conquest in the original timeline are divided by ten to condense things. Aegon I was the first elected president or whatever after the revolution, which was a little over 300 years ago.
> 
> 2) Sansa is a nerd and anyone who tells me otherwise can fight me. She's obsessed with poetry and stories from ages past? You know damn well that girl is gonna get so into it she'll do her own translations.

“Heads and we do the national library, tails and we do the war museum,” Alayne said, holding a coin between them.

Willas nodded, taking the coin and flipping it. For half a second, Alayne was concerned that he’d try to pull one of his dumb magic tricks again. He wasn’t incredibly good at them, nor did he know very many, but he knew how to make a coin disappear and it drove her insane.

“Well,” she prompted as he peeked under his hand to look at the result. “I swear to the Seven, Willas, if you’re pulling a stunt again I will choose for us.”

He pulled back his hand, showing the shiny relief of Aegon I’s head on the coin. “Relax, Alayne,” he said. “Library, it is.” He slipped the coin into his pocket.

Alayne wasn’t incredibly fond of King’s Landing as a city, but the national museums here were worth the rest. Sansa had been devoted heart and soul to literature. While at school here she had an internship at the museum and everything. She knew the place inside and out. Alayne hadn’t stepped foot in there once. Not for lack of interest in the books inside or the history they represented, but because she wasn’t sure what the point of going was if she already knew most of what the volunteer guides could possibly tell her.

Alayne took Willas’s elbow, gently helping him as he ascended the steps to the museum's entrance. HIs leg had almost fully healed, but there were still days where it hurt and he couldn’t walk a lot. He was claiming that physical therapy was just slow-going and that it’d all be fine, but Alayne wasn’t going to worry any less. She didn’t like seeing him wince and gasp the way he did when his leg was troubling him. It hurt. That was another reason she had really been hoping for the library. Of all the museums, it was the friendliest for those who wanted to sit. Most of what was stored in the building was inaccessible to the general public. But what was, generally public use copies of things, were stored in the reading room at the center of the museum on shelves scattered between chairs and sofas. Sansa had always loved reading and doing her research out in the open, despite having full access to the research rooms in the back where she could have her privacy.

“Are we going to take the tour?” Willas asked.

Alayne jumped, unaware that they had stopped at the front desk. Clearing her throat, she smiled weakly. “No, there’s no need. I’ve been here before. Besides, I want to be able to sit down whenever your leg needs it,” Alayne said.

There was a pause, and then Willas shrugged and waved at the lady behind the desk. Alayne guided Willas onwards. Her heart raced a little bit. She had recognized the lady at the desk. She had been working there back when Sansa had come to do her research. Adrenaline hit her like a brick wall. _What if they recognize me? Would they say anything?_  It had been years. There was almost no way that people who had only known her for a few months nine years ago would remember what she looked like enough to pick her out of the crowd.

“Alayne, are you okay?” Willas stroked Alayne’s cheek.

They had stopped again, and he was standing right in front of her. His hand felt warm and soft on her face. She reached up, holding his hand where it was. She kissed his fingers gently and put on her best smile. “I’m fine, Willas. Just taking a trip down memory lane.”

“Okay, because to me you looked like you had seen a ghost. You went all pale for a second. I know fear when I see it, Alayne. Are you sure everything is alright?” Willas sounded genuinely concerned.

Gods, she wished that she could spill everything to him right there. It’d feel like such a weight off of her shoulders to tell the truth to someone. But it was neither the time, nor the place, for something like that. Nor was she even ready to accept the consequences of it all. She forced a softer smile, exhaling deeply. “Willas, trust me. I’m fine,” she said. “Now, where do you want to start?”

Willas returned to her side and they continued walking. “Well, I was thinking we could _not_  do the historical documents and whatnot. I’m not very interested in seeing much of that. Otherwise, it’s up to you.”

Alayne bit her lower lip. She knew exactly where she _wanted_  to go. Andal saga poetry had been her- _Sansa’s_ \- specialty. “Let’s go chronologically, then.”

Stepping out, Alayne pulled Willas along. Butterflies raged in her stomach as they entered the first room. She loved this place dearly, and it was exciting to be back. They walked around, Willas stopping to read a plaque every now and then. Alayne pretended to do the same. She’d lean forward slightly, scan the text, and then gaze almost lovingly at whatever was behind the glass. The plaques, or the tour guides for that matter, couldn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know. Petyr had been kind in some respects, her education being one of them.

_Sansa sat at the table, flipping through the brochure for the local university’s online program. Nothing looked particularly interesting. She had been so wrapped up in her program back at King’s Landing and the prospect of changing directions completely was, well, disappointing. She had worked so hard in class and at her internship and now it was all for nothing. Sansa wasn’t going to get to reap the benefits of her hard work, and Alayne couldn’t claim them. Alayne had nothing._

_“See something interesting, little bird?” Petyr asked, resting a hand on Sansa’s shoulder._

_Sansa swallowed deeply, pushing the bile down her throat. She hated it when he called her pet names. Especially that one. It only made her more aware of the fact that she was in a cage in this house. “No, not yet, Father,” she said. Her voice was weak._

_Petyr sat down, taking the brochure from in front of her. “I have a present for you, Alayne.”_

_She cleared her throat and looked up at Petyr. She looked nothing like him. Who would ever believe that they were related? Even if her hair was dyed to match his, they’d have to claim she looked like the spitting image of her mother for anyone to buy such a farce. Well, it wouldn’t be that wrong. She had always looked more like her mother than her father._

_“And what would that be,” she started. She almost choked on the last word. “Father?”_

_Petyr set down a folder with King’s Landing University’s emblem on the front. “I pulled some strings with some colleagues,” he said. “Even though Sansa has dropped off the map, I convinced them to let you complete your last semester online. But, your work on this new program has to come first.”_

_Sansa nodded, her only reaction a small smile as she traced the emblem with her finger. “Thank you,” she whispered. One day she’d go back to her old life. It was only a couple of years. Just until the trials and everything were over and done with. Then she could go back and get a full time job at the museum, or perhaps write a book. For now, she could live with taking a business program if it meant making Petyr happy._

“You know, I always wondered why they drew all of these pictures in the margins of the books,” Willas mused as they stood in front of a saga describing the conquests of Lann the Clever as he unseated the Casterlys from their kingdom.

Alayne tried to bite her tongue, knowing that it was a slippery slope if she started leaking academic learning that Alayne had never been privy to, but she couldn’t help herself. “They were bored,” she said.

“Wait, what?” Willas leaned forward, looking closely at the book on display. He exhaled, brow creased as he looked between her and the manuscript in front of them. “Are you serious?”

Alayne nodded, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. She couldn’t stop the smile from growing on her face, but she couldn’t bite down on her lip and talk at the same time. “The scribes were bored. Copying things like this was really dull for them. So they’d entertain themselves by adding in little, ridiculous illustrations.”

The book they were looking at wasn’t a good example. She stood up straight and grabbed Willas by the arm. “Come with me,” she said, leading him several displays down to another work. This one had some really good illustrations. “See?” She pointed out the series of drawings depicting knights riding various bugs into battle. “There would be some kind of running joke among the scribes and it would be documented by these little drawings.”

She looked up from the case to see Willas looking not at the drawing of a man on a beetle she was pointing at, but staring at her with a mix of what was probably shock and admiration. She stepped back from the case, looking down at her feet. Heat rose through her face and she reached up to pull her hair over one shoulder to play with. “Sorry, I’m just interested in this stuff.”

“No, it’s quite alright,” he said, laughter in his voice. “I think it’s wonderful. I had no idea you knew so much about this.”

“Oh please,” Alayne started, waving her hand and rolling her eyes. “This is the tip of the iceberg.”

Willas reached out, taking her by the waist and pulling her close. “Oh is it, now?” He pecked her cheek with a kiss. “I think it’s wonderful.” He let his hand drift down and interlaced his fingers with hers. “Onwards, then?”

Alayne’s face tingled where he had kissed her. She had never been one for such kinds of public affection, but she had to say that she liked receiving it. She gently squeezed his hand as they continued walking. He asked a couple more questions, but Alayne kept her answers brief. He may not suspect anything, but she certainly wasn’t going to give him a reason to ponder why she, a girl who had been raised on government funding and had admitted to having a degree in business, would have scholarly knowledge in this admittedly obscure subject.

They passed through a few more rooms, making it as far as the Rhoynar migration before Willas’s leg started to pain him. He didn’t say anything, but Alayne noticed his heavy breathing and the way he clenched his jaw every time they started walking. She looped her arm through his, trying to bear a bit more of his weight. “Would you mind if we picked something to read and sat for a while?” she asked.

“I’d like that very much,” he said. She saw how forced his smile was. He was such a fool, pushing himself like this.

Alayne guided them to the nearest entrance to the reading rooms. They parted as he went off in search of something to read. She knew exactly what she wanted. It had been ages since she was able to get her hands on a copy of some of these works. They didn’t exactly grace the shelves of many bookstores. She crawled along the shelves, looking for something she recognized.

Willas had taken a seat on one of the large plush couches. Whether by choice or accident, he had somehow managed to pick the most secluded nook in the place. He had his leg propped up and given the cover of the book he was holding, had found himself some astronomy text to read. She sat down at the other end of the couch and put her feet up between them.

Alayne had gotten several pages in before Willas looked up at her. “Find something good?” he asked.

She hummed in response, not looking up from the text. Talking in one language and reading in another wasn’t her strong suit.

There was a pause before he spoke again. “Wait a minute,” he said, closing his book and leaning over. He tilted the book she was holding so that he could see the cover properly. “What is that? You can read that?”

Alayne paled a shade, her heart racing as she ducked her head and closed the book, leaving her finger wedged inside as a place holder. “Yes,” she whispered, refusing to make eye contact. “It’s from the Reach. Post Andal invasion, but not by more than a century."

Willas started laughing. “Gods, Alayne, is there anything you can’t do? I can’t even read that, and I’m _from_  there. And you don’t even have a dictionary or anything. What else can you read?” He situated himself to face her, smile spread wide across his face.

She bit her lip, adrenaline pumping through her system, as she looked up at him. It had been a terrible idea for her to pick an untranslated work. It was slow going, sure, but she hadn’t exactly stopped cold after finishing up Sansa’s degree. She hadn’t even stopped, really. She cleared her throat. “Nothing before the Andals. And nothing from Dorne. Most of what survived of the era was written here in the south, and early on the scribes wrote in the Andal dialects specifically because it was for the upper class. I’m not fluent or anything, but I know enough in most to get the general idea.”

Willas was silent, watching her with squinted eyes as he processed this information. She knew she would probably come to regret telling him the truth of this, but she couldn’t stop it now. He shook his head, leaning back and looking off into the distance. “You know, I swear you’ve got the strangest set of talents of anyone I’ve ever met. Next thing I know you’ll be telling me that you’re actually a princess in disguise or whatever that trope is,” he joked.

Alayne’s blood ran cold as he laughed and picked his book back up. She hid her face behind her own, sinking down in her seat. He wasn’t all that wrong, actually. The Starks had been nobility before the revolution three hundred years ago. So, technically, Sansa could call herself a princess. But that wasn’t what scared her. He was genuinely considering the fact that Alayne had big secrets. She hung her head, clenching her eyes shut as she willed herself to not cry in frustration. She screwed up by picking this book and this place for their date. She was foolish and stupid for indulging like this. Alayne didn’t care about literature and history. That was Sansa’s thing, not Alayne’s. But gods, it was starting to get difficult to keep the two separate. She wasn’t Alayne anymore, she was some bizarre mix of both and it hurt.


	23. Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoster Tully dies. Alayne gains a new conviction.

_You fucked up, Alayne._

_You need to make a decision, Alayne._

_You can’t keep slipping like this, Alayne._

_You need to tell him the truth, Alayne._

Alayne had confided in Mya about her poor choices on her last date with Willas. While Randa was the type to get worked up about everything _except_ the Sansa issue, Mya was the exact opposite. But maybe that’s why Alayne had gone to Mya in the first place. She knew she was running out of time. This had gone on for so much longer than she had ever anticipated and the point of no return was quickly approaching. Mya didn’t hesitate to drill that one into Alayne’s subconscious that night. Her friend’s words kept echoing through her head for the following week. Thank the gods Willas wasn’t available for their usual date.

Then, as if things could get any worse, Hoster Tully died peacefully in his bed that Thursday evening.

Randa was the one to break the news to Alayne when she got home from her shift that night. She didn’t remember collapsing to the floor. Her chest felt empty, as though someone had removed everything from inside of her and the breath just wouldn’t come.

Although she had seen Rickard often, Hoster had been Sansa’s favorite of her two grandfathers. He was bolder and more likely to look someone in the eye and tell them they were stupid than lie to be nice. He was always traveling and wasn’t above bringing back gifts, hoarding them until a holiday when he could lavish his grandchildren with trinkets and toys from around the world. She could remember her mother calling repeatedly to make sure that he wasn’t planning a trip during their stay.

His last few years had been difficult. The news didn’t say much other than he was housebound. No one was really surprised. He had lived a long and healthy life and it was only natural. But that didn’t mean his passing hurt any less for Alayne. Sansa had visited him not a few months before disappearing from the world. That was upwards of eight years ago.

Randa called in for Alayne on Friday, claiming food poisoning from breakfast. Just as well, because Alayne couldn’t stomach anything most of the day. It felt wrong. But Saturday rolled around and she strolled into work as though nothing had happened. She faked her smile and lied without a second thought, assuring everyone that it had been a quick bout of sickness and that she’s completely healthy. But that didn’t stop Randa from side-eyeing her and asking how she was every ten minutes.

The funeral was Monday. Randa had suggested that she go. Hoster had been a well-loved man. There’d probably be well over a couple hundred people in the sept for the service and no one would know. But Alayne couldn’t miss another day of work. She had taken a number of days off in the last couple of months. More than she ought to have, but Chataya was good about it, especially when illness was the cause. Still, it didn’t stop Alayne from buying a train ticket for Tuesday.

Alayne woke up early that morning and threw on a sweatshirt as she slipped out the door and went to the train station. It was ridiculous, going to visit the grave of someone she had supposedly never met or had any reason to know or care about. But she wasn’t really Alayne anymore. Not inside, at least.

Riverrun hadn't changed a lot since she had last been there. Cities tended to stay the same at their cores. The layout of the place came back to her, and an hour on the bus took her up to the cemetery hill. The oldest part of the city was on and island in the middle of the river, the cemeteries from that era on the banks across the way, including the one where Tullys were buried.

The Tullys had been buried together for generations on a sizable plot at the top of a small hill. Sansa had been there for Minisa’s funeral. The late afternoon sun didn’t bring much warmth to the deserted graveyard. Late fall was never kind to the Riverlands. The trees were bare and the rolling hills didn’t do much to abate the winds. Still, it was better than the icy conditions that were sweeping through the Vale.

Leaves crunched under Alayne’s feet as she trudged through the cemetery. She kept her head down. The place may be empty, but she still didn’t want to draw any attention to herself from the groundskeepers. Hoster had only been in the ground a single day, and who knew how much the family might grieve on site. As she drew near, she breathed a sigh of relief to see that the Tully plot was empty of visitors. Alayne swallowed the lump in the throat, closing her eyes as she approached the headstone. It was a simple one and the flowers once carefully arranged around it had been blown into disarray. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. His name was carved into the rock, but it didn’t feel real.

Breath ragged as she cried, Alayne sat down cross-legged in front of the flower-covered headstone. She wiped the hot tears from her face. The wind was starting to bite at her extremities and she regret not bringing a hat and gloves along. Memories came flooding back. Eight years and she could still close her eyes and perfectly recall his last words to her, down to the roughness of his voice and the smile on his face.

Gods, this was unfair. She’d never gotten to really say goodbye. Not before Sansa disappeared, and not now. She found herself regretting that. Hanging her head, Alayne took a deep breath. _What would grandfather say?_ It was silly, to ask herself what her dead grandfather would tell her to do in this completely outrageous situation, but it felt like the right thing.

Alayne looked up and pulled her knees to her chest. She knew what he’d say. He’d say she was being stupid and selfish for hiding away like this for so long. She was missing all of the important family moments. Her brother’s wedding had long since passed, and now he was about to have children that she’d never get to see and spoil if she kept this up. She hadn’t hugged her mother in nearly a decade and maybe never would.

 _Why did I do this in the first place?_ Alayne knew the answer to that one. It had been Petyr fucking Baelish.

_“You can’t go back, Alayne.” Petyr’s gaze didn’t flinch as he stared at her from across the room. He glided over, sitting down next to her. “You remember what Joffrey said?”_

_Alayne’s mouth tasted like bile as he said that bastard’s name. “Yes, I remember.”_

_“Well?” Petyr said._

_The threat still echoed around her head at night sometimes. Usually because his family had been in the news that day. For the last month they had graced the front page at least three times a week as Cersei’s trial came to a climax. “He said that if I ever showed my face again, I’d pay.”_

_“And we both know what that means, right?”_

_She nodded, remaining silent. Petyr reached out and gently stroked Alayne’s cheek. His touch was cold and loveless. She wondered why he took her in. It wasn’t for love of her. She had figured that out a long time ago. Still, it was better than the poisonous touch of Joffrey._

_“It means he’ll kill you, Alayne.” Petyr was never shy about reminding her of that fact. “He already hurt you once. I don’t want to see him do it again.”_

_“And he can’t kill a girl who’s already dead,” Alayne interrupted. Yes, she knew that keeping Sansa dead to the world was the safest thing to do. And Petyr was right. Joffrey had it in him to kill her. And for no good reason, too. It was her father who had pointed fingers and shined the ugly spotlight on the Lannister family for the deaths of Jon and Robert. Sansa had done nothing except spend almost every waking moment around the family. Even if she hadn’t said anything, Joffrey had more than enough reasons to suspect her involvement. Rumor had it that after Cersei was arrested he had thrown a fit and put his fist through a wall mere inches from Myrcella’s head. Who knew what he’d do if the girl he suspected of delivering evidence for his mother’s conviction reappeared as though nothing were amiss._

It was dumb of her to live like this. Joffrey had moved on long ago. He was older now, less rash and unpredictable as he had been. And if he was going to take his anger out on anyone, it would’ve been Robb. Joffrey had even shown up to Robb and Myrcella’s wedding and been happy about it. That wasn’t the behavior of a man obsessed with revenge for the actions against his murderous mother. And beyond that, Petyr was long out of Alayne's life, too. She had nothing stopping her except herself.

Beginning to hyperventilate as the realization of her cowardice came rushing in, Alayne was interrupted by a text on her phone. It was Willas asking where she was. Alayne groaned, grinding her teeth as she realized she had never cancelled their date that night. She had been so caught up in coming up here that she had never cancelled their plans. The tears welled up again as she typed out a lie for him. He was smart enough to know it wasn’t true, but the thing about Willas is that he wouldn’t say anything about it. She had learned the look he gave her when she said something that seemed less than honest. It scared her.

Wiping her nose with her sleeve, Alayne tucked her phone away. It was getting dark and her train back to King’s Landing left in an hour. She stood up and looked down at the headstone. Her fingers brushed against the cold granite as she said goodbye and then walked out of the cemetery without looking back. She knew what Hoster would say. He’d take her by the shoulders and say that it’s ridiculous and selfish for her to be living like this and she’s no true Tully if she puts fear before family. Joffrey be damned, she knew a sign when she saw one.


	24. Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas proposes meeting the family. He also makes a surprising admission.

Alayne woke to the sound of her phone vibrating. Her room was dark, save the light of the lit-up phone screen on the other side of the room. She sighed, willing herself to fall back asleep as though sinking herself deeper into the mattress would somehow solve her problems. The phone continued ringing, and Alayne figured she might as well answer it if she was up. Without bothering to throw off the covers, she crawled to the foot of her bed, body aching as she woke her muscles. Picking up the phone, she collapsed down onto the bed with her head and shoulders hanging off the end as she answered.

“Hello?” Her voice was rough and she realized she had been sleeping with her mouth open again.

“Alayne, it’s me. Willas,” he said.

Alayne chuckled as she rolled over and sat up. Her vision went white for a second and she rubbed at her eyes. It was only then that she realized how hungry she was. She must be light-headed from lack of food. She pulled the phone away from her ear for a second to look at the time. It was nearly noon. She slept straight through her alarm. Putting the phone back to her ear, she cleared her throat and spoke. “Yes, I know it’s you, Willas, your name pops up when you call.” Gods, she needed a drink of water.

“Alayne,” he started. “Did you just wake up?” She could hear the laugh he was trying, and failing, to stifle.

Alayne managed to free herself from the sheets and pulled open her bedroom door. Mya, the early-riser that she was, had left the curtains wide open and Alayne was blinded by the daylight. She groaned, covering her eyes as she shuffled towards the kitchen. “Maybe,” she said as she let go of the phone and pinned it to her ear with her shoulder to use both hands. “I had a rough couple of days and slept through my alarm.” It wasn’t a lie, at least.

“Oh,” he said.

There was an uncomfortable silence and the hairs on the back of Alayne’s neck stood on end. She knew he was trying to ask her something. He always made that same little sigh through his nose when his plans are foiled. “Spit it out, Willas, I know you have something to say,” she said after gulping down half a glass of water and taking hold of the phone again.

“I was going to ask if you wanted to get lunch together, since our Tuesday plans fell through,” he said. He sounded disappointed.

Alayne inhaled deeply, running her hand through her hair. “I’d love to,” she said. “I’ll need to shower and whatnot, so make a reservation for one. I can take the metro out to your office and we can go somewhere near there.”

Hanging up the phone, Alayne leaned back against the counter, drumming her fingers on the edge as she considered how the lunch date could go. He’d want an explanation for Tuesday. He wouldn’t ask outright, but she had to tell him something more than the brief text she had sent from the cemetery. But it wasn’t exactly the time or place to tell the truth. She didn’t know what _was_ the right time or place, really, but it certainly wasn’t a spontaneous make-up lunch date on a Thursday afternoon.

She took her shower, humming quietly to herself as she considered her options. Breaking up with him wasn’t one of them anymore. Gods, she loved him too much. But the problem was that she couldn’t stay with him and keep the secret from him. So if she wanted to stay with him, he’d have to know about Sansa. Once he knew, well, then it was up to him if Willas and Alayne became Willas and Sansa.

Willas’s office was in the heart of the downtown business district, and thankfully on a direct line from one of the stations near Alayne’s apartment. It paid to live right between downtown and the upscale residential areas. She got off the train and made the four-block hike to his building. She had been there once before, but had never gone inside.

The Tyrell National building was a gleaming tower of glass and steel, much like all of the other big company headquarters in the district. King’s Landing didn’t have much in the way of architectural diversity other than the red stone of the old government buildings up on Aegon’s Hill, which was a real shame. She stepped inside, happy to be out of the freezing winds. She walked up to the main desk and was directed to an elevator. The building wasn’t the tallest in the city, but fifty floors was a lot when the elevator stopped every two floors to let people on and off.

The doors finally opened on the top floor to reveal a young woman at a desk in a large waiting area. The doors to the office beyond were cracked, and she could hear Willas’s voice coming from inside. Alayne walked up, gave her name, and was told to sit. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she sat down.

No sooner had she gotten settled, the door opened up to reveal Willas, quickly followed by an older man. “Thank you, Mr. Hunt, I’ll keep an eye out for those documents.” The secretary jumped to her feet and ushered Mr. Hunt towards the elevator, babbling about contact information. Willas looked down at Alayne and smiled before stepping back and gesturing for her to follow him. “Come on, I need to grab my phone before we leave. If this place burns to the ground I want to at least be able to answer when my grandmother calls to blame me.”

Alayne stood, clutching her bag as she stepped towards him. He gently took hold of her arm and pulled her into a kiss. Alayne’s face went hot as she realized the secretary was probably not more than ten feet away at her desk. She pulled back and chewed on her lip as she smiled. “Okay, go get your phone. We don’t want to be late.”

Willas led her into his office and the door swung closed behind them. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist as they touched foreheads. “Alayne, please tell me what’s going on. I was really worried about your text on Tuesday. It’s not like you to just drop off the face of the planet and not give me fair warning.” There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on his face and the seriousness of his concern was unnerving.

Alayne closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “There was,” she began. The words stopped at the lump in her throat and she swallowed, smiling to hide how panicked she was. “There was a family emergency.”

“Family? I thought you said you didn’t talk to your father after-”

She pulled back, holding him at arm’s length. “And I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I don’t think I’m ready.” It was a harsh way to cut off the conversation, but she wasn’t about to do this now. She softened, moving forward again to hug him. She buried her face in the side of his neck, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I just really want to spend time with you and be happy right now.”

“Okay,” he whispered, gently running his hand up and down her back in the most perfect caress. “We’ll go get lunch and talk about next Tuesday.”

Alayne frowned as they separated. “What about next Tuesday?” she asked as he collected his things.

“I’ll tell you when we get there. I don’t want to be late,” he said, leading her out the door.

The restaurant was one block away and full of pushed-together tables and business-types at work lunches. Willas gave his name and they were whisked off to a corner booth in the back, well away from the loud bustle of the other patrons.

As soon as Willas had gotten settled in his seat, Alayne picked back up where they had left off. “Okay, so tell me what you were thinking for next week. I get the feeling it’s something I won’t like.”

Willas shook his head, looking up at her with his golden-brown eyes that still made her heart flutter. “Nonsense, I think you’ll absolutely hate what I have to suggest.”

Alayne’s heart dropped like a stone and she looked down at her menu. Her hands were shaking slightly. “Oh?” She cleared her throat and let go of the menu, tucking her hands under her thighs to keep them from trembling. “And what makes you say that?” She looked up at him and put on her best fake, flirty smile.

“Because I want you to come have dinner with myself and my siblings,” Willas said.

Alayne was dizzy for a second as she blinked at him in silence. “Your siblings? As in?”

“Garlan, Loras, and Marg,” he said. “Just the siblings, no spouses. Marg apparently told my brothers all about you and they insisted that since Garlan is in town next week, that the five of us get together. It’s totally up to you where we go and if we do this at all. I don’t want to rush anything, but they are eager to meet you.”

Alayne hummed as she stared at the menu in front of her. This was not something she had anticipated happening. Meeting Margaery was one thing. It wasn’t really all that intentional of a meeting, and it had been stressful to say the least. Meeting the rest of them was more than she had bargained for. She looked up at him as he perused his own menu during the silence. Then again, all of this was more than she had bargained for. “How about,” she started as she closed her menu, “I cook dinner at your place for everyone.”

“Excellent,” Willas said, leaning forward. “I know Marg was a lot, and I can safely say that she’s the most aggressive of the bunch. Garlan may be a lawyer, but there’s a reason he’s in family law. Here, let me text Marg right now and let her know we’re on board.”

Alayne leaned back in her seat as he typed out a message. She couldn’t tell if the lightness in her was relief or if she was going to pass out. The waiter showed up just in time with their drinks and Alayne immediately went for her glass of water. The wheels were turning in her head as she debated how to navigate _four_ Tyrells in the same room.

“Hey, relax,” Willas said, reaching out to take her hand. He must’ve been able to see the concern on her face. “Trust me, they’ll spend most of their time making fun of me. You have nothing to worry about. They’ll adore you.”

“I thought that was your job,” she shot back. Willas opened his mouth, but then closed it again and looked down at the table and withdrew his hand. She saw as he fidgeted and adjusted the napkin in his lap.

Alayne nudged his foot with her own. “Come on, spit it out. You keep doing this to me,” she said.

Willas laughed nervously, not making eye contact. “Well, I was going to say that no, it’s not my job to adore you because it’s my job to love you,” he said.

Alayne sat there, gaping at his admission. She knew it was coming, gods it was about time. But as damning as the words were, she was nothing but thrilled to hear them. A small smile formed as she reached out with both hands to take his. “Hey, I love you, too,” she said.


	25. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas introduces Alayne to his siblings. Alayne stops being Alayne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Yes! Hello! I am alive! Finally got this written the way I like it! Can't guarantee when the next chapter will be! But don't worry! I haven't abandoned this at all! I'm just very particular and want it to be perfect for you all!

“Okay, but what counts as casual for the Tyrells?” Alayne asked, frantically pacing back and forth in her room. She stopped in front of her closet, groaning in frustration. Willas hadn’t been as specific as she would’ve liked when telling her how to dress for the evening. She wanted to make a good impression. Even though she knew that this all would end with an explosive and unpleasant break-up. Eventually. She had come to terms with that fact. Willas was a loving person, but dropping a bomb like Sansa on him? That was too much. No relationship could survive that.

Alayne decided on a pale grey dress. It was modest and, most importantly, it didn’t bring out the hints of red in her hair. Since she had started dating Willas she was touching up her roots almost weekly. Mya called it paranoia, but Alayne felt it was justified. Before Willas she could just throw on a bandana or something while she was at work. No one would question her then.

An hour later, Alayne arrived at Willas’s building. The doorman knew her by now. Every time, he’d greet her with a small wave and a smile. She’d miss him when this was all over. They always went back to his place since there wasn’t the chance of running into a pair of roommates. And his apartment was four times the size of hers. She jammed the button on the elevator, bouncing to burn off her nervous energy. The siblings wouldn’t be arriving for another hour if she remembered correctly. Willas wanted to give her some time to prep and start the meal before she’d be inundated with questions. Gods, she almost regretted offering to cook the dinner instead of just going out to a restaurant.

The elevator door opened to reveal the little hallway that led to his apartment. Everything was disturbingly silent and her ears rang. Clearing her throat, Alayne knocked on the door. It opened to reveal Willas’s smiling face.

“There you are,” he said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on her cheek.

Alayne forced a smile and stepped inside. “Yes, I’m here,” she said quietly. “Nervous, but here.”

“Oh, don’t be,” he said. “I told you, they’ll love you.” Willas seemed so confident.

Alayne wanted to believe him. Sure, they’d love the Alayne they’d meet. But Alayne wasn’t sure she really was Alayne anymore. The blood pounded in her ears as she thought about how twisted this had all become. No, it had to be pushed aside tonight. They couldn’t suspect a thing. Especially Willas.

They went to the kitchen and Willas took a seat at the counter while Alayne began to retrieve everything from the cabinets and fridge. Words wouldn’t come to her, and she felt like she was floating through the motions. Thanks the gods she had picked something she could cook in her sleep.

Willas cleared his throat. “Alayne, is something wrong?” He sounded concerned. Then again, when didn’t he these days?

Alayne looked up from her pile of vegetables. “Hm? Oh, nothing, I’m just thinking.” She slid a cutting board and knife over to him. “Do you mind chopping for me?”

Willas took the knife and started on the pile she had given him. “About what?” He was starting to pry.

“My job,” she said. Lies. More and more lies. She hated it. Every single one was leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Oh?”

Alayne turned on the oven, pretending to be extremely focused on the dials she had used a dozen times before. Anything to keep from making eye contact. “I’m just debating how much longer I want to work there. I’m close to what I need for my business money-wise, but I don’t have the time to devote to it with my schedule right now. Or the space, quite frankly.” She sighed. “I’m weighing my options.”

So intent on not looking at him, Alayne was surprised when he stepped up behind her and put his hands on her waist. She hadn’t even heard him stop chopping. “You know, there’s an easy solution to that,” he said.

No, that’s not what she wanted to hear. “And what’s that?” Casual indifference was her strong point. If she didn’t seem too eager to hear what he had to say, maybe it’d convince him this wasn’t the time to talk about this.

“Ignore your problems completely, just for tonight,” he said. That wasn’t what she had been expecting. “You have all of tomorrow and the day after and the rest of time to worry. I want you happy, not stressed, tonight.”

Gods, she hated him. She loved him, but she hated him. Craning her neck back, she kissed him. With a bump of her hip, she pushed him away. “Go finish chopping, I’m going to need them soon.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang just as Alayne closed the oven door on the meal. That would be them. Ready or not, here they were. Willas opened the door for his siblings just as she stepped out of the kitchen.

“Willas!” Margaery stepped in and immediately embraced her eldest brother. Behind her, two men who looked eerily similar to Willas stepped through the doorway.

“It’s good to see you, Marg. Garlan. Loras.” Willas hugged his brothers and then closed the door behind them. “I’d like you all to meet Alayne,” he said, stepping through the group and over to where she was standing.

Her head was light as she stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you,” Alayne said.

Garlan took her hand and then pulled her in for a hug. “We’ve heard plenty about you, Alayne,” Garlan said. “I’m glad I finally get to meet you.”

Alayne forced another smile and laughed nervously. “I certainly hope they were good things.”

“Of course,” Marg chimed in, booting her brother to also embrace Alayne. “How could I say anything bad about the perfect angel who stole our brother’s heart?”

Loras rolled his eyes. “Lovely, Marg, now will you all please stop smothering her?” Loras held out his hand, and Alayne breathed a sigh of relief that she’d be accosted one fewer times than expected.

“Come, come, let’s break out the wine,” Marg led the group away from the door. It was incredible to watch, really. Despite being the youngest, Marg seemed to command the group. For a brief moment, Alayne wondered if Sansa would’ve turned out the same way had everything happened, well, differently.

Glasses were poured and passed around. Garlan lifted his, stealing the toast from his baby sister. “To Alayne,” he said. She could hear Willas sigh in relief that there wasn’t a speech involved.

Taking a seat, the interrogation began. As if they had rehearsed beforehand, the three asked seemingly innocuous questions, one after another. First it was how long they’d been dating. Then where she lived and worked. Then where she was from. Then about her family. Her blood ran colder and colder with each question. Her answers sounded so formulaic at this point. She wondered whether or not Willas would ever notice how she answered every single one of those questions the same way every time someone asked. He’d seen it more than once. And had been on the receiving end of these falsehoods himself. Gods, when did she start calling these lies again? A year ago she would’ve called them the truth and died swearing on it. Now she felt like vomiting with every breath.

Just as her head began to swim, the timer went off in the kitchen. “Pardon me,” she said, standing up. “I need to take dinner out of the oven.”

Alayne took the roasting pan out of the oven and then stood in front of the open freezer door. The cold air felt wonderful against her heated skin. If her heartbeat kept going at this rate, she’d probably pass out before dessert. The siblings’ voices wafted in through the open door.

“I can’t believe you have a girlfriend, Will.” That must be Loras. “We were convinced you’d be an old man, single and alone.”

“Nonsense, Loras, don’t tease him like that.” That was Garlan, then.

“Tell me I’m wrong, though. How many other girlfriends have you kept hidden from us over the years?” Alayne froze at Loras’s question. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know Willas’s dating history. It wasn’t something they really discussed a lot.

“None of your business,” Willas said.

“Regardless, I’d say we’re all very happy that you’ve found someone.” Marg sounded sickly sweet and it made Alayne’s stomach turn.

“Marg, please don’t talk like that. You’re beginning to sound just like grandmother.” Alayne decided she liked Garlan.

Willas walked in through the door. “Everything okay?”

Alayne closed the freezer door and turned around, sweet smile pasted on her lips. “Of course! I was just cooling down for a second. The oven really heat up this place.” At least one thing she said tonight wasn’t a lie.

“Here, I’ll help you bring everything over.” Willas picked up a pair of side dishes and walked out, calling to his siblings as he made for the dining room.

The meal was a blessed distraction for the Tyrells and Alayne was happy for the break in her interrogation. If her mouth wasn’t full with food, she was asking them questions in return. After all, this was just as much about her getting to know them as it was them getting to know her, right?

After dessert, Garlan stood. “Marg and I will clean up,” he said.

Alayne moved to pick up her own plate, but Marg’s hand shot out and gently pushed her hands away. “Nonsense, dear. You cooked, we’ll clean.” Without another word, the pair began clearing dishes with startling efficiency.

Alayne shot a glance to Willas as he stood, following Loras back to the living room. Her stomach roiled. Slipping out of the dining room, she made for the bathroom down the hall. If she threw up, they wouldn’t hear her from there. It would be a shame to lose dinner, though. She had worked so hard and it was one of her favorite meals.

Shutting the door, Alayne sat down on the closed toilet. Her hands were cold and clammy, but her stomach was settling. Hopefully they’d be gone soon. Marg and Loras lived here in the city, but from the sounds of it Willas hardly ever saw either of them. That seemed unlikely to change in the near future. It’d give her time to sort all of this out. And maybe she’d never have to be in this position again.

Several minutes later, Alayne flushed the toilet, gently washed her face with cold water, and took several deep breaths. She could make it through the rest of the night. She knew her lies better than she knew the truth.

Alayne started down the hallway, but stopped before crossing in front of the kitchen door to listen in. They were talking about her. Alayne wasn’t a snoop. Not often, at least. And this felt important.

“Come on, Garlan, tell me she reminds you of somebody!” Margaery sounded insistent.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play games with me. I’m serious! Think about it.”

“Nope.”

“Red hair. Imagine her with red hair.” Alayne’s stomach turned and an acidic taste formed on her tongue.

“What does this girl’s passing resemblance to Catelyn have to do with anything?”

“Please, you don’t find it the least bit interesting? Or curious?” Alayne leaned against the wall silently, stabilizing herself so she wouldn’t pass out. Did they know? Did Marg know?

“No, not really!” Garlan was starting to sound irritated. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because I don’t think she is who she says she is. Have you seen the way she looks at him? It’s like she’s guilty of something.” Alayne didn’t want to hear any more, but her feet wouldn’t move.

“Sometimes, I think being constantly surrounded by private security has made you a bit paranoid. Why would Alayne lie about who she is? Give it a rest, Marg. And stop being so nosy. You know Willas hates it when you pry into his life like this.”

“Do you think he knows?”

“Marg, let it go."

Alayne retreated down the hallway again, slipping back into the bathroom. Either her heart had stopped, or it was going so fast she couldn’t keep track. She shut the door quietly and leaned over the sink. Her body shook as she hyperventilated. Face going numb, she collapsed to her knees. Dinner was coming back up, and she managed to open the toilet lid just in time.Fuck. Time had run out. If Marg, who had met her for just a few hours in total, had figured this out, then Willas definitely knew. Or at least he suspected. But he hadn’t said anything, so either he was incredibly oblivious or he was playing his cards close to his chest. No one in high society was as honest as he seemed to be. She kicked herself for falling into this trap. His pretty smile and golden eyes had tricked her into trusting him and now she was paying for it.

Flushing again, Alayne cleaned up. Thank gods she knew where he kept his spare toothbrushes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d leave, just for a bit. It was routine, being Alayne. Kind of like sleepwalking. As long as she kept her distance, she’d be fine for the rest of the evening. This time, she marched down the hallway and entered the living room with her head held high and a mask of casual pleasantry. She leaned down and kissed Willas on the cheek before sitting next to him and taking up her glass of wine. Alayne made perfect conversation with the Tyrells, but Sansa was far, far away.


	26. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willas takes Alayne on a surprise date. Sansa makes a fate-changing decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely readers. I apologize for the lengthy delay in update. Not only has real life been a big time sink, but I've also decided that I'm going to cut the work short. Don't fret! You'll still get a satisfying ending, but it'll only be one more chapter instead of the ten or fifteen I had originally planned. I've started to grow weary of this story and want to move on. That being, said, this chapter is fairly short, and hopefully I'll have the whole piece finished in the next few days.

_Pack a bag. Heavy stuff. You’ll be outdoors._

Sansa stood outside of her apartment building. Winter in the city was disgusting. But from the sounds of it, Willas had some surprised planned for them in the countryside. Her stomach fluttered as she thought about what it might be. The area around King’s Landing was beautiful, sure. But nothing so special that he’d keep a secret like this.

The taxi rolled up. Willas opened the door and then slid to the other side of the back seat. Sansa pasted a smile on her lips as she climbed in.

“Hello my darling,” Willas said, kissing her on the cheek.

“Hi,” was all she could manage. Clearing her throat, she stuffed her overnight bag between her feet on the floor. She brushed the hair from her face and loosened the scar wrapped around her neck. “Do I get to know where we’re going? You know I don’t do surprises.”

Willas laces his fingers between hers. “We’re going out to the country. To Highgarden.”

Sansa’s heart stopped. Her vision went white for a second as all of the blood rushed from her head. “Excuse me?” she sputtered.

“Highgarden. It’s lovely after the first big snow. I want to take you horseback riding through the trails.” Willas reached over and gently took hold of her jaw, tilting her face towards his own. “Is everything okay? You seem off.”

Sansa shook her head, taking hold of his hand in her own. She leaned forward and gently kissed him. “I’m fine,” she whispered. Her lips curled into a smile as she stroked his cheek. “Just excited to see you.”

Willas gave her another quick kiss and then pulled back. “We’re staying at my family’s old house in the country. I seem to be the only one nowadays that still wants to visit it, so we’ll have no interruptions.”

Sansa wished she hadn’t said that.

* * *

Willas had been right. The countryside outside of Highgardenwas beautiful. But with every step, she felt fainter. It was the pinch of the cold breeze that kept her awake as they trudged up through the snow banks to the stables. Not only did the Tyrell mansion sit on an obscene amount of property, but that property housed an entire stable with the family horses. Willas’s horses, to be exact.

Sansa walked over and took the reigns of one that the hands on duty had prepared, stepping up into the saddle like she had done so many times growing up in Winterfell. She hadn’t loved riding as much back then. Arya was the one who had demanded the lessons, but Sansa had learned to love it.

“Ready?” Willas rode up next to her, eyeing the way that she sat so confidently in the saddle. “I guess we can skip the tutorial.”

Sansa reddened a shade and nudged the horse, ushering it out and into the snow. “I’m full of surprises,” she said.

The pair walked to the path entrance. Willas took the lead, nudging his horse forward through the snow. “I haven’t ridden these trails in years. Not since everyone moved out and Marg was no longer here to ride with me.” Sansa hummed in response. “Where did you learn to ride?” he asked.

Sansa cleared her throat, looking down at the reigns in her hands. Her heart pounded and there was a part of her that wanted to yank the leather straps, turn the horse around, and run. But she didn’t. “My father put me in lessons. He said it would be good for me to have some kind of outdoor activity.” It wasn’t a lie, technically.

“Ah.” They rode in silence for a while. Tiny snowflakes drifted on the gentle breeze. Willas slowed to a stop and dismounted. “We’re at the halfway point. Want to take a break?”

Sansa nodded and slid down from her horse. Willas tied the pair to a branch and fed them treats from his pocket. Sansa wandered off the path, admiring the snow-covered forest. It almost reminded her of home. Of Winterfell. Willas wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She jumped, not having heard him walk up behind her. “Willas,” she started.

“What? I’m not allowed to surprise you?” he asked.

She smiled, turning around to face him. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “No. You spooked me, that’s all.”

Willas returned the kiss with a gentle one on her mouth. He was warm and sweet and oh how she would miss this. “Do you like it out here?”

Sansa hummed in affirmation, memorizing every line of his face as they stood there.

“I want to ask you something.” Sansa’s heart began racing. The color drained from her cheeks and she took a small step back. Willas chuckled and then pulled her back in. “Nothing bad, Alayne. I wanted to ask if you’d come to the Crone’s Day ball with me. You know, the one that all of us rich and fancy people go to every year? My grandmother is hosting it this year.”

Sansa gaped for a second. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I’m not- I just-“ She couldn’t find a plausible reason why she shouldn’t. At least not one that he would believe.

“What? That you’re not high society? We’ve been over this, Alayne. More times than I can count, actually. I’m asking you to come with me. I’ll cover the cost of a dress and anything else you could possibly need. Please?”

Willas’s plea was so genuine that it hurt Sansa to think that he’d soon have his heart broken. She’d never be able to get that close to any of the families without someone knowing who she was. Going to that ball was a death sentence for Alayne. “Alright, I’ll go.”


	27. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa takes a leap of faith. Willas catches her.

Two weeks before the ball, Willas took her to get a dress. It was a stunning gown in dark grey with layer after layer of delicate chiffon netted in tiny white pearls. She didn’t want to know how much it cost. It’s a shame she’d never get to wear it, because it fit so beautifully.

One week before the ball, Willas surprised her with a mask of white lace and grey ribbon to match the dress. Sansa knew it was a masquerade, but she let Willas enjoy the idea of surprising her with another present. It was selfish, perhaps, but she couldn’t get enough of the way he looked at her at times like this.

Four days before the ball, Sansa sat on the couch staring at the wall for two hours before Mya came home. Alayne had handed in her resignation at work today. Mya said nothing, simply sitting with her until Randa came home and started the process of stripping the brown dye from Sansa’s hair. The red was jarring to see after so many years.

Three days before the ball, Sansa called Petyr. Half of her hated him for keeping Sansa from her family for so long. The other half regretted throwing all of his hard work away. The sound of his voice tied her stomach in a knot. She’d process her anger and grief later. For now, she needed legal documents. She’d have plenty of time to mourn Alayne later.

Two days before the ball, Willas texted her asking if she’d like to spend the night before at his place. He had the day off, of course, and wanted to spend time with her since the last week had been so hectic. She replied yes. Her fingers shook as she typed, knowing that it twenty four hours the best few months of her life would be over. That was perhaps too dramatic. Still, she’d miss him.

Sansa barely slep that night. She tossed and turned, caught somewhere between guilt and fear. Willas would feel betrayed. He’d never forgive her for this. But she had no choice. If she stayed with him as Alayne, which of course was not an option anymore, she’d be discovered at the ball anyway. And even if, by some stroke of luck, that wasn’t the case then it was only a matter of time. If she broke up with him as Alayne, he’d demand to know why. He’d deserve to know why, but if she was going to preserve Alayne she couldn’t tell him. And that wouldn’t be fair. Not after everything that’s happened. Breaking up with him as Sansa was her only option. It was time to go home. In the past few months she had missed so much. She should’ve been there for her grandfather’s funeral. The betrayal, though. That was what would kill her. Explaining to Willas that she’d lied for all of these months? And for no reason at all? Anyone would be furious. She was furious with herself, even.

Dawn broke and Sansa rolled out of bed. If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well get outside and take a walk. Mya was already out the door at work. Randa wouldn’t be up for hours. Most of the city wouldn’t be up yet. She slipped on a coat and tucked her red curls under a hat. Mornings were still in the city, but the dead of winter was still the dead of winter.

Sansa made it all the way up to Rhaenys’s Hill. The park was lovely any season, but Sansa loved the snow. It’s what she missed most about Winterfell. More had fallen overnight to fill in the footprints from children playing. She walked a lap around the park before starting the walk back. The city was awake now. It was bizarre to watch everyone else hurrying off to work. She wondered if she’d still work a normal job after this.. With the Stark money there was no need to, really. She could still do the boutique, perhaps. Now there was no need to wait for start-up money. But was that what Sansa wanted, or Alayne?

She didn’t have an answer by the time she got home. That was a problem for tomorrow and the day after and every day beyond that. Today, she had to break Willas’s heart.

* * *

Sansa clutched the garment bag holding her dress to her chest as she stepped out of the cab. The lunch she ate before leaving home was threatening to come back up. Her hair was still hidden under the beanie from earlier. The doorman tipped his hat, as usual. She responded with a strained smile, but if he noted her discomfort, he didn’t make it obvious. She exhaled deeply as she stepped into the elevator. She brought everything she’d need to get ready. She wouldn’t need it, but packing everything had been calming. The delusion that everything would be okay was calming, even if it was just a delusion.

 _Make it fast, Sansa. Make it fast and painless._ Bullshit, it’d be painful no matter what. As long as she didn’t cry. She could manage that. The elevator doors slid open. She stepped into the small hallway. A single door separated her from heartbreak. Was she being dramatic? Perhaps.

 _Make it fast, Sansa._ She reached out and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He was probably in the shower. She tried the handle and found the door unlocked. Her stomach dropped. She could run now. She had the money, and Alayne wasn’t technically gone yet. She could buy a ticket to Pentos and live in obscurity.

 _Stop it. Stop being a coward._ Sansa inhaled sharply and pushed the door open. She set her things down in the entryway, shed her coat and hat, and called out. “Willas? Are you here?”

Willas appeared around the corner, dressed in a half-buttoned shirt and jeans. He stopped in his tracks a few feet from her, looking her up and down. Sansa watched his face intently. Shock and confusion, check. Anger, not yet. She leaned on the door, shutting it gently. Willas didn’t say a word, but he certainly stared.

“Willas, we need to talk.” She took a cautious step forward, closing the distance between them. Her entire body felt light, as though it weren’t hers. She was just possessing it. Sansa was a ghost, after all. “There’s no easy way to say this. My name isn’t Alayne.” She paused. His expression didn’t change. “My name is-“

Before she could finish her sentence, Willas took hold of her face and pulled her into a kiss. It was rough and passionate and _perfect_. Tears welled up in her eyes as he broke contact. He held her forehead to his.

“I’m sorry, Willas. I’m so sorry.” She choked on a sob. “I wanted to tell you sooner, and I know you probably hate me and never want to see me again."

“I know,” he whispered. He almost sounded like he was laughing. “I’ve known for a while.” He brushed his thumb against her cheek, wiping away a tear.

It took Sansa a moment to process what he said. She jerked back out of his grasp, looking at him. He looked happy. That wasn’t right. He shouldn’t be happy. “Wait, you knew? What do you mean you _knew_?”

“I’ve known Catelyn Stark for years. You look just like her. Even without the hair. It was the little things here and there, though. And I wanted to ask, but I didn’t know how you felt and...” He paused. Sansa couldn’t tell if she wanted to smack him or kiss him, so she just looked away. He gently took hold of her shoulders. “Hey, we can talk about this. You don’t have to go to the ball tomorrow if you don’t want to. And if you want to end things between us, that’s okay. But I love you, Sansa.”

Hearing him say her name was like electricity through her veins. It was her turn to grab him. She pulled him up against her, kissing him deeply. “Say it again,” she whispered between kisses.

“I love you, Sansa.” Willas pressed himself up against her, pinning her to the door. “I love every inch of you. I always have and always will.”

“I love you, too, Willas.” She slipped a hand inside of his half-buttoned shirt, running her hands over his bare skin. Her other hand was pressed against the door, holding herself steady.

His hands moved from her shoulders. One came up to her jaw, his fingers curling behind her neck. The other went down to her waist. Every touch of his sent fire through her. He held on tight to her waist, not moving any further south, but gods did she want it. His mouth moved from hers and to her neck. She let out a small moan and dug her nails into his chest. Four months they had been dating. Twice now they had almost made it beyond this stage. If this was real, she wasn’t about to let it slip away. Fumbling slightly, she felt for the done-up buttons of his shirt and undid them.

Willas took that as a sign, and let go, slipping off the shirt before grabbing her by the hips. His fingers brushed the bare skin under her shirt. The contact made her gasp. His mouth returned to hers and his hands moved further up her shirt. Her skin burned where he made contact and she dug into his bare chest even more.

She felt him hard in his pants, and just the thought of where this was going made her dizzy with delight. “Bedroom?” she asked breathlessly. He nodded, pulling himself away. He was panting almost as much as she was. She could feel the heat in her face as they stared at each other for a moment. The moment ended and she gave him a quick kiss before making her way down the hall, shedding clothing as she went. Willas was right behind her, practically pulling the clothing away before she let go.

First came the shoes. Next, the socks disappeared. Her shirt came off somewhere around the door, as did his pants. Her jeans were the hardest. She fell backwards onto the bed, yanking them off as best she could from her back. Willas pulled them away before climbing on top of her and pinning her down with kisses. His hand took hold of her waist, guiding her further up the bed. She pressed her hips upwards to him. Gods, she needed this. She didn’t realize how much she needed this until now. He slipped a hand under her and felt for her bra clasp. The lacy thing was pulled off ungracefully, but at this point Sansa didn’t care.

Willas’s mouth began traveling again. He planted soft kisses all down her neck and collar bone. Each one sent sparks through her and she smiled. This had to be a dream and she hoped she’d never wake up. He continued down her chest and stomach. A finger hooked through her underwear and began to tug hesitantly. Sansa nodded, whispering pleas as he settled between her thighs.

Sansa lost count of how many times she came. She had grasped and tugged at the sheets so hard she was worried she tore them. Not to mention the stain she had likely left thanks to his deft fingers and tongue. Gasping for air, she mustered up the will to sit up. She took hold of him by his hair and guided him up to meet her. She kissed him, wondering how she could be so lucky. He followed her up until he was on top of her again, shedding his own underwear along the way.

Wrapping an arm beneath her, Willas took hold and flipped them over. She settled on top of him, one knee on either side. He sat up, one arm on her back and another on her hips. She rocked her hips back and forth and she made it clear the tables had now turned.

It was dark outside by the time they were finished. They lay beneath the sheets, limbs entangled. Sansa exhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she pressed her face into his neck. “I never want to wake up from this.”

“Neither do I,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. “For the record, I love your hair. It suits you.”

Sansa smiled and lifted her head, smiling. “Well in that case, I’ll wear it down tomorrow night.”

Willas propped himself up on his elbow. “So you still want to go? What about your family? Have you-“

“I’ve already dealt with everything. I called Petyr a couple of days ago and he’s filed all of the paperwork. All I need now is to let them know,” she said. After that… well, she’d get there eventually.

Willas leaned over and kissed her gently. “Good, because I’m dying to see you in that dress again. You are simply divine.”

The day had arrived. Sansa spent the afternoon in the bathroom. The morning was spent in bed cuddling and having sex. Her makeup wasn’t difficult. It was the hair. Leaving it down was great, but the styling was a _pain_. Willas watched for part of it, just to be with her. It still didn’t feel real, and every small kiss he left on her neck and shoulders was a gift.

When it came time to put on the dress, Sansa paused. She wouldn’t let herself cry, not after having done all of the makeup. Putting on this dress was the end of Alayne. She’d see her family for the first time in years. Robb and Arya would be there. Mother was apparently held up by company matters, Bran had elected to stay home in Winterfell, and Rickon wasn’t old enough to attend. They’d come later. She remembered seeing Arya on the news a couple months prior, beating the shit out of Joffrey on camera. The memory brought a smile to Sansa’s face.

When she stepped out of the back room, fully dressed, she swore she was walking on clouds. Willas was in the entryway, slipping the invitation into his coat pockets. He looked at her with an expression of pure awe and wonder and it made Sansa’s face go hot.

“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he said with a laugh. Sansa ducked her head as he walked over and slipped an arm around her waist. “It’s a shame the car is downstairs waiting or I’d say fuck it and whisk you back to the bedroom again.”

She rolled her eyes, reaching up to stroke the collar of his jacket. “There will be plenty of time for that after the party,” she said. _Or during, if there’s a good coat closet to hide in_. She wrapped herself up in a thick shawl and led the way out the door.

It wasn’t until they were in the car that her nerves picked up. She drummed her fingers against her lap with an increasing pace until he finally reached over and took her hands in his own. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead. It was fine. Everything would be fine. Still, she wanted to vomit.

The car slowed to a stop and Sansa took a deep breath. A valet opened the door and she stepped out, immediately met by the flashing cameras of the press. For a second, she wanted to take it all back and run home to Mya and Randa and never return. Willas laced his fingers between hers and squeezed gently. She ignored the questions, most of which were some variation of who she was and why she was there with Willas, and focused on the door ahead of her.

Once inside, Willas took charge, presenting the invitations. Sansa found it odd that he had an invitation despite his grandmother being the host. She took hold of his elbow, her grip turning her knuckles white as she breathed deeply. The door to the ballroom swung open to reveal upwards of a hundred guests in masks. No one payed much attention to them as they entered, and for that she was grateful.

“We’ll find your family first. If I remember correctly, Arya is usually somewhere near the bar drinking Tyrion under the table. Or at least that’s where we found her last year,” Willas said under his breath.

Sansa snorted a laugh. Somehow she wasn’t surprised that her little sister had become an alcohol storehouse. They glided through the crowd. Willas was stopped here and there by formal greetings from people Sansa didn’t recognize. Willas didn’t seem to be too keen on talking to them, and would usher her along as he cut the pleasantries short.

It was Robb that they found first. No one could miss the gaggle of women surrounding the several-months-pregnant Myrcella. Robb stood on the outskirts of the group, chatting with one of the other husbands. Willas put a hand on Sansa’s lower back and guided her forward. He nodded at Robb, and then stepped back.

This was it. Taking a deep breath, Sansa walked up to her brother. He was taller than she remembered. Eight years had changed him. He looked happy. Would he be happy to see her? Or would he be angry? Would her sudden reappearance spoil his evening? It was too late to back out, and she choked out his name. “Robb?” she said, slowly pulling off her mask and handing it off to Willas a few steps behind her.

Robb turned and stared at her for a moment. She waited for the look of recognition, aching for the few seconds it took. Robb squinted, stepping forward. “Sansa?” he asked.

She nodded, willing the tears to disappear. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s Sansa.”

Robb scooped her up into a hug so tight she could barely breathe. “I can’t believe it’s you,” he said as he let go. He took hold of her by her bare shoulders, looking at her with what she swore was disbelief. “How are you here? Where have you been? You know what, you can tell me later. We need to find Arya.”

Robb held on to her by the elbow as he leaned into the group and whispered something to Myrcella. She nodded, giving Sansa a brief glance, before returning to her conversation. Willas came forward, handing Sansa her mask and then stepped aside to let Robb drag his sister through the crowd in search of Arya.

Sansa took several deep breaths, forcing the tears away as Robb began calling for Arya a few feet away. The short brunette whipped around at her brother’s call. “I’m in the middle of- Sansa?” Arya practically shoved her brother out of the way and came to a halt in front of Sansa. There was nearly a foot height difference between them. Arya had apparently not grown vertically since she was fifteen.

Sansa reached out and pulled Arya into a hug, holding her little sister by the back of the head. “Hey, you,” she said. “Did you miss me?”

Arya shook with laughter and pushed herself free of Sansa’s grasp. “Where have you been?”

“Here. King’s Landing. For the last two years, at least,” she said.

Arya smacked her sister’s shoulder before hugging her again. “I’m glad you’re back.”

* * *

Sansa slipped out one of the balcony doors and into the cold winter air. Willas was a step behind her. An hour into the night and she was already exhausted.

“How are you feeling?” Willas asked, rubbing her arms gently.

Sansa leaned her head forward and rested it against his shoulder. “I’m tired. I’m happy, but I’m so tired.”

Willas kissed the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m glad you’re happy,” he whispered. “I love you, Sansa."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope it's a satisfying ending for you all, and thank you so, so much for reading. I've grown a lot as a writer during the two years this fic has been in the works and I'm excited to move on to new projects. Fear not, this won't be the last of Sansa/Willas from me! In fact, I've got another modern AU idea currently in the works so if you liked this, keep an eye out for that one coming soon!
> 
> With all the love,  
> mithrilstarlight


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